Problem
After upgrading to Image Artist 1.5, the SImA_slurmd container fails to start when the Image Artist stack is deployed. As a result, batch analysis jobs fail.
The following errors are reported in the SImA_slurmd service log:
2025-12-04T09:36:36+01:00 slurmd: error: Could not create scope directory /sys/fs/cgroup/docker_limit.slice/system.slice/slurmstepd.scope: No such file or directory
2025-12-04T09:36:36+01:00 slurmd: error: Couldn't load specified plugin name for cgroup/v2: Plugin init() callback failed
2025-12-04T09:36:36+01:00 slurmd: error: cannot create cgroup context for cgroup/v2
2025-12-04T09:36:36+01:00 slurmd: error: Unable to initialize cgroup plugin
2025-12-04T09:36:36+01:00 slurmd: error: slurmd initialization failed
Cause
Support for Docker slice configurations using the cgroup-parent setting was available in earlier Image Artist releases but was removed in Image Artist 1.5.
Systems upgraded from a previous version may still contain a custom Docker slice configuration (for example, docker_limit.slice) in /etc/docker/daemon.json. When this configuration is present, the SImA_slurmd container cannot initialize correctly, resulting in batch analysis failures.
Solution
Review the contents of /etc/docker/daemon.json.
"cgroup-parent": "docker_limit.slice"
-
Undeploy the Image Artist container stack:
See: Image Artist: Deploying and Undeploying the Container Stack
-
Restart the Docker service:
systemctl restart docker.service -
Verify that Docker is running:
systemctl status docker.service -
Deploy the ImA stack
See: Image Artist: Deploying and Undeploying the Container Stack
Verification
After redeploying the Image Artist stack, verify that the SImA_slurmd container is running:
docker service ps SImA_slurmd
Confirm that:
- The SImA_slurmd container/service is running without restart failures.
- No new Slurm cgroup-related errors are reported in the service logs.
- A batch analysis job can be submitted and completes successfully.
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