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Dell High Performance Computing Solution Resources Owner's manual

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IntegratinghooksandtoolsforbettermanageabilityofHPCCluster
ByMuniraHussainandCalvinJacob
Managinglocalandremoteservernodesinaclusteratscalesoftenstothousandsofnodesisalwaysa
challenge.Inordertoreducethecluster‐managementoverheadandsimplifysetupofclusterofnodes,
adminsseektheconvenienceofaone‐snapshotglimpse.Rapidchangesintechnologymakeseaseof
management,tuning,customization,changingandupdatingsettingsanongoingrealityasinfrastructure
isrefactoredandrefreshed.
Tosimplifysomeofthesechallenges,itisimportantthathardwaremanagementbefullyintegratedinto
thesolutionforclustermanagement..TheintegrationbetweenBrightClusterManager7.1andDell
PowerEdgeHaswellbasedserversdepictaleadingexampleofwhatisachievabletoday.Criticaltothis
integrationisIntegratedDellRemoteAccessController(IDRAC).IDRACisembeddedintothe
motherboardsofDellserversforin‐bandandout‐of‐bandsystemmanagementandcandisplayand
modifyBIOSsettingsaswellasperformfirmwareupdatesthroughtheLifeCycleControllerandremote‐
console.Collectively,eachserver’sin‐depthsystemprofileinformationisgatheredusingsystemtools
andutilitiesandisavailableinasinglegraphicaluserinterfacefortheeaseofadministration,thus
reducingtheneedtophysicallyaccessserversdirectly.
Figure1.BIOS‐levelintegrationbetweenDellPowerEdgeserversandBrightClusterManager7.1.
Figure1(above)depictstheconfigurationsetupforasinglenodeinthecluster.Thefabriccanbe
accessedviathededicatediDRACportorsharedwiththeLAN‐on‐Motherboardcapability.Thecluster
administrationfabricisconfiguredatthetimeofdeploymentusingBrightClusterManager7.1.The
systemprofileoftheserveriscapturedinanXML‐basedschemafilethatgetsimportedfromtheiDRAC
usingtheracadmcommands.Thusrelevantdata(e.g.,optimalsystemBIOSsettings,bootorder,console
redirection,networkconfiguration,etc.)isparsedanddisplayedontheclusterdashboardofthe
graphicaluserinterface.Byreversingthisprocess,itispossibletoapplyBIOSsettingsontoservers
Drop‐downchoicesforsettingtheBIOSlevelsystemprofilesareavailablefromtheBrightGUIfor
selection.ThesechoicesarethenstoredinanupdatedXML‐basedschemafileontheheadnode,and
pushedouttotheappropriatenodesduringreboots.
SystemManagementfabric/IDRACIPintwomodes.Sharedor
Dedicated
Dedicated
Shared(LOM1)
 DELLAPIIntegrated
 RACADM/IPMI
commandscaptureXML
schemaandprofileof
theserver
Figure2.SnapshotoftheClusterNodeConfigurationviaBrightClusterManager7.1.
Figure2isascreenshotfromBrightClusterManager7.1thatshowsBIOSversionandsystemprofile
informationforanumberofDellPowerEdgeC6320servers.Thisisaparticularlyusefuloverviewas
inappropriatesettingsandversionscanbeeasilyandrapidlyidentified.
Anexampleusageofthiswouldbewhennewserversareaddedorreplacedinacluster.Theabove
integrationwillhelptodeterminethatallservershavesimilarhomogenousperformanceasthiscanbe
determinedbyconfirmingsettingsofBIOSversionsandfirmwares,systemprofileandotherBIOStuning
configurations.
Similarlythisisalsousefulforcustomersthatmayneedspecificsettingsappliedontheirserversthat
maynotbeadefaultsetting.Forexamplecodesthatarelatencysensitivemayrequirecustomprofile
withC‐Statesdisabled.TheseserverscanbecategorizedintoanodegroupandspecificBIOSparameters
canbeappliedforthatsetofgroup.
ThistightlycoupledBIOSlevelintegration,betweenBrightClusterManager7.1andDellPowerEdge
Haswellbasedservers,deliverscapabilitiesthatprovideasignificantlyenhancedsolutionofferingfor
Dellcustomers.AsavalidatedandtestedsolutionsonDellhardware,theyprovideseamlessoperation
andadministrationofDellHPCclusters.
References:
1. http://www.brightcomputing.com/Bright‐Cluster‐Manager
2. http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems‐management/w/wiki/3204.dell‐remote‐
access‐controller‐drac‐idrac
3. http://www.brightcomputing.com/Linux‐Cluster‐Architecture
4. http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/high‐performance‐
computing/b/general_hpc/archive/2014/09/23/bios‐tuning‐for‐hpc‐on‐13th‐generation‐
haswell‐servers
5. http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/high‐performance‐
computing/b/general_hpc/archive/2015/04/29/linpack‐benchmarking‐on‐a‐4‐nodes‐cluster‐
with‐intel‐xeon‐phi‐7120p‐coprocessors
/