{section: What You'll Need to Know}
-To create a HTCondor annex with on-demand instances, you'll need to figure out four things:
+To create a HTCondor annex with on-demand instances, you'll need to know two things:
1: A name for it. "MyFirstAnnex" is a fine name for your first annex.
-1: Which {link: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/ instance type} you want to use. Each type of instance has a different number (and type) of CPU cores, amount of RAM, size of local storage, and the like. If you're not sure, we recommend starting with 'm4.large', which has 2 CPU cores and 8 GiB of RAM.
1: How many instances you want. For your first annex, when you're checking to make sure things work, you may only want one instance.
-1: The duration of the annex, expressed as decimal number of hours. By default, this is =0.83=, or 50 minutes. =condor_annex= will arrange for your annex's instances to be terminated after its duration has passed. Once it's in place, this lease doesn't depend on your machine, but it's only checked every five minutes, so give your deadlines a lot of cushion to make you don't get charged for an extra hour.
{section: Start an Annex}
-If you agree with the suggestions above, entering the following will start an annex.
+Entering the following will start an annex named "MyFirstAnnex" with one instance.
{term}
-$ condor_annex -duration 0.83 -count 1 -annex-name MyFirstAnnex -odi-instance-type m4.large
-MyFirstAnnex[something-something-something]
+$ condor_annex -count 1 -annex-name MyFirstAnnex
+Will request 1 m4.large on-demand instance for 0.83 hours. Each instance will terminate after being idle for 0.25 hours.
+To change the instance type, use the -aws-on-demand-instance-type flag.
+To change the lease duration, use the -duration flag.
+To change how long an idle instance will wait before terminating itself, use the -idle flag.
+Test-Annex-ODI-041c0538be-14b6-40ce-83d8-47a8ac696639
{endterm}
-This command will return after HTCondor has set up the 3000-second (50 minute) lease and requested that Amazon start 1 instance. The output can be used on AWS to identify annex instances; you won't have to do that unless something goes wrong.
+The last line of output can be used to identify annex instances; you won't have to do that unless something goes wrong.
-The sharp-eyed among you may have spotted =m4.large= on both the command line and the in the HTCondor configuration; specifying =-odi-instance-type= is in fact optional, and =condor_annex= will use the configured default if you don't specify one on the command-line.
+{subsection: instance types}
-Likewise, if fifty minutes is long enough for you, you don't need to use =-duration=, either.
+Each {link: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/ instance type} provides a different number (and/or type) of CPU cores, amount of RAM, local storage, and the like. If you're not sure, we recommend starting with 'm4.large', which has 2 CPU cores and 8 GiB of RAM. As noted in the example output above, you can specify an instance type with the =-aws-on-demand-instance-type= flag.
+
+{subsection: leases}
+
+By default, =condor_annex= arranges for your annex's instances to be terminated after =0.83= hours (50 minutes) have passed. Once it's in place, this lease doesn't depend on your machine, but it's only checked every five minutes, so give your deadlines a lot of cushion to make you don't get charged for an extra hour. The lease is intended to help you conserve money by preventing the annex instances from accidentally running forever. As noted in the example output above, you can specify a lease duration (in decimal hours) with the =-duration= flag.
+
+{subsection: idle time}
+
+By default, =condor_annex= will configure your annex's instances to terminate themselves after being idle for =0.25= hours (fifteen minutes). This is intended to help you conserve money in case of problems or an extended shortage of work. As noted in the example output above, you can specify a max idle time (in decimal hours) with the =-idle= flag. =condor_annex= considers an instance idle if it's {link: http://research.cs.wisc.edu/htcondor/manual/v8.6/3_7Policy_Configuration.html#37887 unclaimed}, so it won't get tricked by jobs with long quiescent periods.
{section: Monitor your Annex}
