PowerTAC Experiment Scheduler

Docker Compose deployment

Requirements

To run the PowerTAC Experiment Scheduler inside containers as a Docker Compose service you only need to install the following dependencies:

• Docker: https://www.docker.com/get-started
• Docker Compose: https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/

Configuration

The services are configured via an env file. A basic configuration can be found in .../deployment/example.env.

For the minimal configuration you should specify/change the following environment variables:

• EXPERIMENT_SCHEDULER_ROOT: the root directory in which all data related to the experiment scheduler is stored
• MYSQL_STORAGE_PATH: path to the directory where the database data is stored
• MYSQL_PASSWORD: password for the MySQL/MariaDB database

Running the services

After adjusting the base configuration to your needs, open a terminal, change to the deployment directory and run the docker-compose command as follows:

$ docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml --env-file example.env -p powertac_es up

Manual installation

Requirements

To run the Experiment Scheduler as local services directly on the host machine the following dependencies must be installed on your system:

• Docker: https://www.docker.com/get-started
• Java 11: http://openjdk.java.net/
• Apache Maven: http://maven.apache.org/
• NodeJS & NPM: Download (https://nodejs.org/en/download/) or install via package manager (https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/)
• A MySQL compliant database
  • MariaDB: https://mariadb.org/
  • MySQL: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/installing.html

Please make sure that there is sufficient storage space for the broker images as well as the log files.

At this time the Orchestrator setup is only tested on a Linux system. The following instructions describe the installation and execution of the Orchestrator on Ubuntu 18.04. The installation on Windows or MacOS might differ.

MySQL database

Please make sure that your MySQL database is running and accessible from the host system. Create a database as well as a user with access to this database.

Orchestrator

To install the orchestrator download or clone this repository (https://github.com/powertac/powertac-experiment-scheduler).

Now switch to the orchestrator's root directory and run the Maven install goal to download the required dependencies and install the orchestrator:

$ mvn install

Afterwards, create a file called application.properties in the root folder of the orchestrator and add/edit the parameters below. If your database is running on your local system the MySQL host(<MYSQL_HOST>) should be localhost. The default port for the MySQL database (<MYSQL_PORT>) is 3306. Please make sure that the path you enter as directory.local.base is writeable by the user that will run the orchestrator.

spring.datasource.username=<MYSQL_USERNAME>
spring.datasource.password=<MYSQL_PASSWORD>
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://<MYSQL_HOST>:<MYSQL_PORT>/<POWERTAC_DATABASE>
directory.local.base=/path/to/your/powertac/directory/

Please be aware: the path to the orchestrator's base directory must end with a / or \ (depending on you operating system).

Web UI

To install the web UI download or clone this repository (https://github.com/powertac/experiment-scheduler-ui).

Switch to its root directory and run npm install to download and install its dependencies.

Docker

The orchestrator requires access to the Docker daemon. Therefore the user that will be running the orchestrator needs permissions. Please refer to the Docker documentation for details: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/#manage-docker-as-a-non-root-user.

Running the scheduler

Start the orchestrator by running the Maven exec command. The orchestrator will listen by default to port 8080.

$ mvn exec:java

If the orchestrator is started for the first time it will download the server images and build the broker images. Therefore it will take some time until the service is available.

Once the orchestrator is ready you can start the web ui by running the npm run command:

$ npm run dev

The web UI will be reachable by default via http://localhost:9000. You can run the web UI on a different port by using the following command, where <PORT> represents the desired port:

$ npm run serve -- --port <PORT> --mode development

Adding brokers

Once you have created broker Docker images you can add them by using the "Brokers" navigation option in the UI. You can find and build a basic set of brokers by cloning and following the instructions provided by the powertac/broker-images repository.

Known issues

• The UI currently doesn't react correctly to some changes to experiments and game statuses. Reloading the page should do the trick.
• In some cases when a game's containers have been created but not started and the orchestrator shuts down, the created containers are not removed and the orchestrator will throw an error due to this conflict. When this happens, shut down the orchestrator, remove the containers manually (docker rm) and restart the orchestrator.