# Pipeline getting frozen (nf-core)

**URL:** <https://community.seqera.io/t/pipeline-getting-frozen-nf-core/1142>\
**Category:** Ask for help\
**Tags:** nextflow, nf-core\
**Created:** [August 26, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/pipeline-getting-frozen-nf-core/1142 "2024-08-26T21:28:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mateo\_P](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/mateo_p/32/1030_2.png) [@Mateo\_P](https://community.seqera.io/u/Mateo_P)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/pipeline-getting-frozen-nf-core/1142/1 "2024-08-26T21:28:59Z")

</div>

HI! Hope you can help me with **a pipeline getting frozen**.Im running **rnaseq** pipeline and finding an issue **previously reported (link below)** but without a proper solution.

In the rnaseq github they pointed out this may not be a pipeline issue so I should reach out nextflow forums

Here there is a thread with a similar issue (but without any anser): [Slack](https://nfcore.slack.com/archives/CE8SSJV3N/p1715651026443199)

The thingis, im running the rnaseq on a high RAM cpu ( **standalone machine** ) and **after few hours (or even days) the process get stuck** without prompting **any error** (and making **no progress** ). I have tried to batch the samples to reduce the computational time, going from 110 sampels to 10, but same thing happened (just earlier on the 10 samples batch).

The execution trace does not report any failure (neither the shell), it just freezes and do not update anymore , and the **nextflow log repeats over and over a set of lines** (and it DOES update, but just repeating the same). Please find attached the nextflow logs and the execution trace (Showing no errors).

If any additional info is required just ask , and thank you so much.

Example of the error

```auto
g-26 12:24:00.053 [Task submitter] DEBUG n.processor.TaskPollingMonitor - %% executor local > tasks in the submission queue: 23 -- tasks to be submitted are shown below
~> TaskHandler[id: 73; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (A189_POSTm); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/59/f394ecc3e8372f1118ab25e37b882b]
~> TaskHandler[id: 69; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (A187_POSTm); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/fb/3b0c6e6abb0cd30a5b2819761fb678]
~> TaskHandler[id: 71; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (FACE34_PRE); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/1f/4a4bf3c2a95d8ff11ec3ea1bc9af81]
~> TaskHandler[id: 65; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (A193_POSTm); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/a9/e51ad5f840f0993b8c547b8b134e45]
~> TaskHandler[id: 74; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (FACE11_POSTm); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/89/fcc28cf8ffd5b422bc1d5d14e73f8c]
~> TaskHandler[id: 63; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (FACE13_PREm); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/55/3e86b42259706eea46cc4e8effc944]
~> TaskHandler[id: 68; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (A187_PRE); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/e7/4f68e2b7ea07112071514853a6a38f]
~> TaskHandler[id: 62; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (FACE34_POSTm); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/a9/8c39378f80e5eb3ac879ad3a8e8af7]
~> TaskHandler[id: 70; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (FACE11_PREm); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/4b/2c31d2f7d599920b395f8a085a2040]
~> TaskHandler[id: 66; name: NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:ALIGN_STAR:STAR_ALIGN_IGENOMES (FACE13_POST); status: NEW; exit: -; error: -; workDir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/34/2c3b625c1ef1cb5b65e96481945aca]
.. remaining tasks omitted.

```

[nextflow.log](https://community.seqera.io/uploads/short-url/lbAeQOMafps9HWOtrAfo6A8mVtf.log) (799,1 KB)  
[execution\_trace\_2024-08-26\_02-16-03.txt](https://community.seqera.io/uploads/short-url/fF8OhSsuMJuewgLG3jViNJAbcHc.txt) (12,4 KB)  
[nextflow.log.1.txt](https://community.seqera.io/uploads/short-url/uYH7yJCSYunQy2IKDHcNZR5XWPA.txt) (3,1 MB)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Adam\_Talbot](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/adam_talbot/32/62_2.png) [@Adam\_Talbot](https://community.seqera.io/u/Adam_Talbot)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/pipeline-getting-frozen-nf-core/1142/2 "2024-08-27T17:26:06Z")

</div>

While you have plenty of memory, you only have 20 CPUs:

```auto
Aug-23 16:05:00.423 [main] DEBUG n.processor.LocalPollingMonitor - Creating local task monitor for executor 'local' > cpus=20; memory=251.4 GB; capacity=20; pollInterval=100ms; dumpInterval=5m

```

nf-core/rnaseq uses [16 CPUs for resource intensive tasks](https://github.com/nf-core/rnaseq/blob/b89fac32650aacc86fcda9ee77e00612a1d77066/conf/base.config#L42-L46), so this means only 1 concurrent run of a process like [STAR\_ALIGN](https://github.com/nf-core/rnaseq/blob/b89fac32650aacc86fcda9ee77e00612a1d77066/modules/nf-core/star/align/main.nf#L3). You can force these to cap out at 10 cpus using the option `--max_cpus 10`. This will enable 2 concurrent runs of these big processes.

I also notice you are downloading the genomes from the `igenomes` bucket every time. This will take considerable time before you can submit a process, so I would recommend downloading and providing your own reference build which is stored locally, preferably on the fastest storage your machine has access to. This will provide the lowest latency for running a pipeline. You can see the documentation here: [rnaseq: Usage](https://nf-co.re/rnaseq/latest/docs/usage/#reference-genome-options)

```auto
Aug-23 16:05:16.778 [FileTransfer-1] DEBUG nextflow.file.FilePorter - Copying foreign file s3://ngi-igenomes/igenomes/Homo_sapiens/NCBI/GRCh38/Sequence/WholeGenomeFasta/genome.fa to work dir: /media/bioinfo/DATAII/Conchi_Nunez/X204SC23063344-Z01-F001/work/stage-b383e9c7-a922-4e50-9271-c26b4e61aafa/5e/7a9c679b56550b9fa73d860ca781a0/genome.fa

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mateo\_P](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/mateo_p/32/1030_2.png) [@Mateo\_P](https://community.seqera.io/u/Mateo_P)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/pipeline-getting-frozen-nf-core/1142/3 "2024-08-30T14:22:51Z")

</div>

Hi!

Thanks for the insights on the pipeline! I have implemented the max-cpus restriction and downloade the ref genomes (even tho I think Im still missing something).

I have made an attep updating the pipeline to the latest version , but even if the log now changes, the issue remains.

Im uploading the last log / trace, im quite desperate about why this is happening.  
[.nextflow (copy).log](https://community.seqera.io/uploads/short-url/rjGA20TGfNhIJIS8xuqTkAwgQg8.log) (293,8 KB)  
[execution\_trace\_2024-08-30\_12-45-21.txt](https://community.seqera.io/uploads/short-url/n73nCokgR5lnOlZJhPxgom3ahHI.txt) (11,7 KB)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Adam\_Talbot](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/adam_talbot/32/62_2.png) [@Adam\_Talbot](https://community.seqera.io/u/Adam_Talbot)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/pipeline-getting-frozen-nf-core/1142/4 "2024-09-02T12:29:50Z")

</div>

According to your logs, you are still downloading igenomes every time. Set `--igenomes_base` to the local path you downloaded igenomes to:

```auto
Aug-30 15:15:41.607 [FileTransfer-1] DEBUG nextflow.file.FilePorter - Copying foreign file s3://ngi-igenomes/igenomes/Homo_sapiens/NCBI/GRCh38/Sequence/STARIndex to work dir: /home/bioinfo/nfcore/rnaseq_cocnhi/work/stage-0463113e-12b1-4a78-9695-785c6b4d0ca5/70/a4df0e698aad199b68a36d8ca83707/STARIndex

```

Check out the docs here: [Docs: Reference Genomes](https://nf-co.re/docs/usage/reference_genomes)
