The Red Hat HPC Solution: Simplified High-Performance Linux Clusters

Special Section: High-performance Computing

By Wayne Slater High-performance computing (HPC) cluster deployments Gord Sissons can be complicated, time-consuming, and costly. The Red Hat® HPC Solution enables organizations to deploy enhanced systems quickly and run them efficiently, helping reduce the cost and complexity of their Linux® cluster deployments.

igh-performance computing (HPC) clus- Providing a comprehensive ters on x86 servers are a cost-effective HPC cluster solution Halternative to supercomputers and other The Red Hat HPC Solution features an Intel® Cluster architectures running proprietary operating sys- Ready–certified software suite. The Intel Cluster tems. In fact, Linux-based x86 servers such as Ready specification includes tools and functionality Dell™ PowerEdge™ 1950 III, PowerEdge 2950 III, to help simplify cluster deployment and management. PowerEdge 2970, PowerEdge SC1435, PowerEdge Intel Cluster Ready–certified clusters are also designed M600, and PowerEdge M605 servers have come to to run all registered applications, providing a one-to- dominate the TOP500 Supercomputing Sites list many cluster-to-application environment. The Red (www.top500.org). To make the power of HPC clus- Hat HPC Solution provides application portals tailored ters available to organizations of all sizes, Red Hat to a variety of widely used HPC applications, many Related Categories: and Platform Computing have collaborated closely of them Intel Cluster Ready registered.

High-performance computing to create the Red Hat HPC Solution. Along with cutting-edge cluster management tools (HPC) The root of the Red Hat HPC Solution is Project from the open source community, the Red Hat HPC Intel Kusu, an open source development effort sponsored Solution includes Platform Lava—an open source Linux by Platform Computing. Project Kusu is designed as version of the Platform Load Sharing Facility (LSF®) Platform Computing a source kit for simplified cluster management and application—for integrated, open source workload man- Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployment, and supports a range of different Linux agement and accounting; the Platform Management

Visit DELL.COM/PowerSolutions distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Console (PMC), a Web browser–based graphical user for the complete category index. Project Kusu calls for a standards-based solution interface (GUI); automated software maintenance; and combining open source and commercial software into a variety of HPC tools, libraries, and developer tools. a single operating environment. The Red Hat HPC Solution achieves that objective by integrating Red Simplifying CLUSTER management Hat Enterprise Linux with Platform™ Open Cluster The PMC was introduced in Platform OCS 5. An intui- Stack (OCS) 5. The Red Hat HPC Solution combines tive GUI available as a complimentary download these components into a single cluster operating option and designed to administer all components of environment designed to provide IT administrators the cluster environment, it supports cluster monitoring with what they need to deploy, run, and manage an and reporting by node, service, workload, and net- HPC cluster (see Figure 1). work. Availability and inventory reports are standard;

72 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | November 2008 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, November 2008. Copyright © 2008 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. interfaces are provided for commercial solutions such as the Platform LSF job Platform OCS 5 extensions scheduling solution. Platform LSF is Tested and conﬁgured third-party tools and applications designed to intelligently schedule parallel and serial workloads to help make optimum Platform OCS 5 core use of available computing resources. Node and Node and Workload and Development Job submission templates for common cluster cluster resource tools and management ﬁle systems management utilities HPC applications are also included in the PMC. Users can customize them with optional Platform components such as the Red Hat Enterprise Linux or EnginFrame grid computing portal. By Community Enterprise Operating System (CentOS) logging in to the portal, users can access x86 and x86-64 hardware and control their computing resources from almost anywhere using the Internet or an intranet. Figure 1. Components in the Red Hat HPC Solution combine open source and commercial software into a single operating environment Quickly provisioning and deploying clusters the Nagios host and service monitor. can easily visualize trends with PMC Using the Red Hat HPC Solution enables The tools can be configured to track graphing tools, document usage with administrators to provision nodes quickly resources and alert administrators if user- Platform Lava or Platform LSF, and add and deploy them immediately. The solu- defined thresholds are exceeded. Nagios nodes or groups to the cluster without tion supports diskless nodes, image-based is fully integrated. These monitoring and disrupting operations. nodes, customizable package-based pro- reporting tools, combined with the Web The Red Hat HPC Solution enables visioning, IP address assignment, and browser–based workload management analysts, engineers, and scientists to node-naming conventions of hosts or capabilities in Platform Lava, help simplify employ the power of HPC with an out-of- groups. The Red Hat HPC Solution pro- resource and performance optimization. the-box, pre-integrated, vendor-certified vides comprehensive node configuration Platform Analytics and Platform Real software solution. Users and administra- templates—unlike typical provisioning Time Monitoring (RTM) also integrate tors alike can enhance productivity with solutions that offer partial templates. The seamlessly with the Red Hat HPC Solution. a simplified HPC cluster that can be up Red Hat HPC Solution is also distinguished Platform Analytics offers tools for col- and running quickly, and can be optimized by its support for multiple operating sys- lecting, analyzing, and visualizing infor- for enhanced performance throughout the tems and versions. mation for decision making based on cluster life cycle. The Red Hat HPC Solution offers a vari- usage patterns and loads. Platform RTM ety of kits to help simplify software instal- provides a dashboard to monitor physical Wayne Slater is manager of partner mar- lation and maintenance. Administrators devices, application software functions, keting for Platform Computing. can automate upgrades and patches and individual job statistics for workload using standard Linux tools such as yum management. Gord Sissons runs a small software com- (Yellowdog Updater, Modified) and the pany and technology consulting practice Red Hat Network (RHN) service. RHN Simplifying life cycle located near Toronto. makes updates and patches for packages management included within Red Hat Enterprise Linux As clusters grow, they become increas- available to subscribers. Administrators ingly complex. Change management and can then use the yum program to down- cluster capacity can become significant load and install updates from RHN. challenges. The Red Hat HPC Solution helps meet these challenges while helping Automatically installing reduce costs. For example, changes to QUICK LINK resource monitoring tools cluster nodes can be propagated without The Red Hat HPC Solution enables admin- reprovisioning systems—the necessary istrators to automatically install and tools are already included. The Red Hat Red Hat HPC Solution: www.redhat.com/hpc configure management tools such as the HPC Solution also helps simplify capacity Cacti node and cluster monitor and planning and expansion. Administrators