Thread: HPC Linux Cluster - Help

Hi,

I am making a High Performance cluster, with average linux boxes.
Could you please tell me which toolkit is best/easiest and which distro i
would need?
Any help would be appreciated...i was going to use 'CentOS' and 'OSCAR' what
do you think?
Is OSCAR too old? What toolkit type thing is better?

Cheers
Ben

After further perusal around your site,

it would appear that you guys recommend Kusu with CentOS, not OSCAR.
If someone who has used Kusu could explain to me how it works? What do i need? And also what harware (2 network cards)? And if it is the best Toolkit for HP Cluster with CentOS?

Cheers

I have decide to go with ROCKS
I do not even need a OS installed for Rocks do I?

Ben

Rocks is a very good cluster toolkit. It will meet your requirements for a first cluster.

Rocks sits on top of an OS.. and the default is CentOS.

Have fun!

Thankyou,

Do you mean that the 2 OS disks that come with ROCKS to install are CentOS 5?

Ben

Yes I believe so...

Cheers,

So when i have installed ROCKS, i will actually have a working OS of CentOS on each node aswell as the frontend?

Ben

It seems that NO, i will not have an OS on each node, but will have an OS on the frontend...is this right?
Also how many nodes should i put in each cabinet, just one will be ok?
Also, do i need a hardrive on each node? Will they need them for SWAP space, even if im doing a network boot (PXE)?

Thankyou very much Lawrence,
Ben

Rocks will also install OS (CentOS) on all compute nodes and yes - you need hard drive on each machine.
The partition for compute node by default is auto-partition, but you can change it by following their userguide. Swap is also one of partitions that needed.

As a testbed cluster i suggest that there should be 2 compute nodes, but only 1 machine also is OK.

You may wish to subscribe to the Rocks mailing list to get involved with the project... it is a very good resource to learn about Rocks and HPC.