A simple name for your cluster brain

Transcription

1 A simple name for your cluster brain init.at informationstechnologie GmbH Tannhäuserplatz 2/5.OG 1150 Wien Austria

2 Page 2 of 10 1 Table of contents 2 Why CORVUS by init.at Your advantages with CORVUS CORVUS features Web interface Server administration User management Device management Mapping network topology Configuration Scalability High availability Technical overview Architecture Graphic overview, software components in CORVUS Graphic, node installation in CORVUS Node configuration in CORVUS Technical requirements... 10

3 Page 3 of 10 2 Why CORVUS by init.at With CORVUS, the legendary "Schrödinger" - the fastest HPC cluster in Austria - ranked 264 out of the top 500 fastest super computers in the world. "CORVUS HPC Cluster Management" was developed by init.at in It is perpetually adapted, and is used in business, research and university settings all over Europe. Place your trust in the market leader for Linux HPC clusters and achieve enormous computational performance in your cluster. Please contact us for more information. Tel or corvus@init.at 3 Your advantages with CORVUS CORVUS reduces your time expenditure to a minimum - from hardware set-up to operational cluster. For CORVUS covers all of the requisite tasks (node and server configuration, node installation, cluster monitoring). Further advantages you can attain through CORVUS: Easy cluster roll-out Multi-server set-up Minimal personnel expenditure due to simple administration All activities performed with ease over the Web front-end, such as installation, configuration and monitoring Integrated user management Job system front-end NOCTUA by init.at This proven monitoring solution comes integrated in CORVUS. You'll find NOCTUA's specification under Automatic graphics generation via RRD Mapping of network topology directly in the software Completely scriptable via REST Connection to existing LDAP and/or AD networks All data saved in an SQL database Detailed documentation Perpetual enhancement and updates Training and support directly from the manufacturer, provided by CORVUS developers No license costs

4 Page 4 of 10 4 CORVUS features 4.1 Web interface CORVUS provides you with a user-friendly, easy-to-follow and comprehensive Web interface. The administrator can use it to run all tasks needed for installing and administering a cluster. 4.2 Server administration Administration processes run in the background on server machines for automation and simplification of configuration - the system processes requisite to running a cluster. This includes: DHCP server configuration Automatic generation of LDAP trees Configuration of the PXE / Netboot configuration Provision of images and kernels (including initrd) 4.3 User management Users and user groups can be created using the Web front-end. CORVUS handles user management in the background in the LDAP tree, as well as generation of the home directory on the server chosen by the administrator. 4.4 Device management CORVUS organizes its devices in device groups. They can be given tags in order to simplify management for the administrator - even when it comes to complex environments. 4.5 Mapping network topology Complex network topologies with more than one network segment can be mapped correctly with CORVUS. The software maps all physical connections in your database. Topology can be visualized and controlled on the Web front-end at any time.

5 Page 5 of Configuration CORVUS makes it possible to configure individual cluster nodes via a highperformance configurations system, right down to the most minute detail. Configurations can be activated for entire device groups or for individual devices. Before configuration is copied to the nodes, the administrator can generate and check them comfortably via Web front-end. Individual configuration components are realized as short Python code snippets and can be as complex as one wishes. 4.7 Scalability CORVUS has been conceptualized as a multi-server solution, which means you can use any number of servers for running your cluster. CORVUS makes sure that the servers take on precisely those tasks the administrator intends. Potential scenarios: Independent login servers Redundant file servers Dedicated monitoring server Autonomous storage network 4.8 High availability In order to guarantee fail-safe HPC management, cluster servers can be run with an HA set-up. A server clone stands at the ready to automatically take over the function of the server that is down in the event of an error.

6 Page 6 of 10 5 Technical overview 5.1 Architecture 98% of CORVUS is written in Python. The remaining 2% is implemented in C. Using Python provides access to a comprehensive standard library, and facilitates integration into Python projects already existing in the "Scientific Community". In order to guarantee reliable, efficient communication within the cluster, the network stack of CORVUS software is based on 0MQ. The Web front-end has been generated using Angular. Figure 1 [see Page 7] provides an overview of CORVUS functionalities. From a user perspective, the Web front-end is in the foreground. It can be used to manage all system aspects simply and quickly. The configuration itself is stored in an SQL database. The databases supported are PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle and SQLite. The majority of cluster tasks involve maintenance and configuration of nodes. Figure 2 [see Page 8] shows the installation procedure, and Figure 3 [see Page 9] illustrates the node configuration process.

7 Page 7 of Graphic overview, software components in CORVUS Figure 1:

8 Page 8 of Graphic, node installation in CORVUS Figure 2:

9 Page 9 of Node configuration in CORVUS Figure 3:

10 Page 10 of 10 6 Technical requirements CORVUS instances can be run on current versions of the following Linux distributions: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server OpenSUSE Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Fedora CentOS Ubuntu LTS Debian Wheezy / Squeeze An SQL-compatible database is needed for operation. This usually runs on the same server as the master instance. CPU, RAM and disk requirements will depend on the number of devices and checks. The configuration (network, database, mail, etc.) of the hosts on which CORVUS instances will be run is performed by the administrator. The use of a recent browser version is recommended for visualizing large networks on the CORVUS Web front-end.