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DefaultUserHome: Local functionality #7254
Description
- AWS ParallelCluster version
3.14.2 - Full cluster configuration without any credentials or personal data.
- Cluster name:
rocky-pcluster
Bug description and how to reproduce:
DefaultUserHome: Local is described as: When set to Local, the head node, login nodes, and compute nodes will each have a separate local default user directory stored in local/home/.
This is true but /home is still being exported to the compute nodes and they mount it automatically. I need to use my own native NFS mount for /home on the headnode and all worker nodes via customization.
Can I disable the /home functionality and replace it like described? With enough finaggling I can probably get it working but I'd like the understand the intention of DefaultUserHome: Local. Side note: it is useful to have rocky user's home in local so i can't easily break connectivity via that user while messing with . /home so that is definitely one benefit
informational:
headnode
/home 10.95.0.0/21(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
/opt/parallelcluster/shared 10.95.0.0/21(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
/opt/parallelcluster/shared_login_nodes 10.95.0.0/21(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
/opt/intel 10.95.0.0/21(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
/mnt/ebs 10.95.0.0/21(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
/opt/slurm 10.95.0.0/21(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
$ find /local
/local
/local/home
/local/home/rocky
/local/home/rocky/.ssh
/local/home/rocky/.ssh/authorized_keys
/local/home/rocky/.ssh/id_ed25519
/local/home/rocky/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
/local/home/rocky/.ssh/authorized_keys_cluster
/local/home/rocky/.ssh/known_hosts
/local/home/rocky/.bash_logout
/local/home/rocky/.bash_profile
/local/home/rocky/.bashrc
/local/home/rocky/.bash_history
compute
$ grep home /etc/fstab
10.95.1.129:/home /home nfs hard,_netdev,noatime 0 0
Activity
gmarciani commentedon Mar 2, 2026
Hello @erpadmin ,
On
DefaultUserHomewhat you are observing is the expected behavior.
The property
DefaultUserHomerefers only to the home directory of the default user (rocky in your case).So, when
DefaultUserHome: Local, the home for the default cluster user is/local/home/<user>. . For any other user the home directory remains the default home directory configured in your system, which by default is/home/<user>. foir this reason/homeis still shared with each cluster node.Custom home mount
Since ParallelCluster 3.8.0, you can mount your external file system to
/homeusingSharedStorage.Here are some important considerations on this use case: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/parallelcluster/latest/ug/shared-storage-working-considerations-v3.html.
I hope this helps.
Let me know if there is any other clarification you may need.
Thank you,
Giacomo
erpadmin commentedon Mar 2, 2026
Then I believe the real problem is that SharedStorage does not support regular NFS mounts. For now I am using /nfshome and overriding the user's default home in sssd.conf.