Provisioning and System Management with Clustercorp's Rocks+

 

Clustercorp Rocks+ is the leader in commercial software and support for Rocks-based clusters and clouds. Rocks+ provides a robust, comprehensive software stack that is designed to provide all the necessary software components for building, deploying and managing a cluster or cloud, including cluster middleware, tightly integrated compilers, applications and communication libraries.

Rocks+ 5 introduces multiple features and enhancements, including the Rocks command-line interface, support for cluster virtualization, updated OS distribution based on Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 5 and the Dell Roll, which was designed specifically for the latest generation Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers.

ROCKS+ — Purchasing a cluster with Rocks+ allows users or the Dell deployment team to install a cluster by combining a carefully selected set of best-of-breed components, which may include low-latency interconnect networks from QLogic® or Mellanox®, workload management software such as Adaptive Computing Moab Cluster Suite or Platform Load Sharing Facility (LSF) and open source packages such as the OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED), Torque and Grid Engine. These components are managed and delivered by Rocks+ through modular software components called Rolls.

Rocks+Rolls are intelligently designed software stacks that operate as plug-and-play, modular components for Rocks+. Clustercorp's Rolls can be added to a cluster by simply selecting a checkbox at installation time or using a simple command-line process post installation. Automating the burdensome process of application installation and configuration relieves administrators of an error-prone process and ensures end users a validated, known-good software environment.

List of Supported Rolls

Open Source Rocks+ Rolls (a valid Rocks+ License is required for support)

• Base Roll (Base Rocks Framework)
• Ganglia Roll (Cluster Monitoring)
• High-Performance Computing (HPC) Roll (Base Message Passing Interface [MPI] Environments and Tools)
• Java Roll (Java Runtime)
• Kernel Roll (Rocks Install Kernel)
• SGE Roll (Grid Engine Workload Manager)
• Torque Roll (Torque Resource Manager and Maui Scheduler)
• Web-Server Roll (Base Rocks Web Server)
• Viz Roll (Tiled Visualization Walls; Supported with Rocks+Viz SKU)
• Xen Roll (Virtual Nodes and Virtual Clusters; Supported with Rocks+Virtualization SKU)

Clustercorp Rocks+ Rolls (a valid Rocks+ License is required for all usage and support)

• Absoft Roll* (Absoft Compilers)
• Dell Roll (Required for Rocks to match the Dell support matrix)
• Hadoop Roll (Map Reduce and Hadoop File System; Requires Rocks+Hadoop stock-keeping unit [SKU])
• Hybrid Roll* (Dual-Boot Windows®/Linux; Requires Rocks+Hybrid SKU)
• Intel-ICR Roll (Intel® Cluster Ready)
• Intel® Developer Roll* (Intel Compilers)
• LSF Roll* (Platform LSF)
• MLNX-OFED Roll (Mellanox OFED for InfiniBand)
• Moab Roll** (Moab license included in Rocks+MOAB SKU)
• PBS Pro Roll** (Altair PBS license available as add-on SKU)
• PGI Roll* (Portland Group Compilers)
• Rocks+ Kernel Roll (Required for Rocks to install on some Dell servers)
• Support Roll (Support Utilities)
• TotalView Roll* (TotalView Debugging and Performance Tools)

Third-Party Rocks+ Rolls (a valid Rocks+ License is required for support from Clustercorp)

• CUDA Roll (requires Rocks+GPU SKU, GPGPU Computing)
• QLogic-OFED Roll (QLogic OFED for InfiniBand)

*Third-party license required to run beyond demo period

**Third-party licenses required and available from Clustercorp

Rocks 5.1 runs with RHEL 5.2/5.3 or CentOS 5.2/5.3 Server DVD added as a Roll.

Rocks+ 5.3 runs with RHEL 5.3/5.4 or CentOS 5.3/5.4 Server DVD added as a Roll.

Dell Roll  

The Dell Roll, which is exclusively available in Rocks+, uses the Rocks framework to help further simplify cluster deployment and management by automatically configuring cluster hardware and software that is specific to the latest Dell PowerEdge servers. The Dell Roll installs Dell-approved device drivers across the cluster, applies necessary OS fixes and kernel parameters and modifies BIOS settings for functionality and performance.

The Dell Roll can also be used to deploy and configure Dell systems management software and the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) management interfaces.

 

InfiniBand® (OFED) Rolls

 

The Mellanox OFED Roll, which is exclusively available in Rocks+, includes OFED, drivers, and firmware for Mellanox InfiniBand host channel adapters (HCAs), fabric management tools and multiple Message Passing Interface (MPI) environments. It also includes comprehensive support for each compiler Roll from Clustercorp and helps remove the guesswork and manual steps to create a validated InfiniBand environment.

Clustercorp also offers the QLogic Roll for organizations using QLogic hardware. This Roll — designed by QLogic and tested by Clustercorp — adds support for QLogic OFED+ for TrueScale or InfiniScale HCAs. Integration of QLogic drivers helps provide a standardized deployment strategy that allows organizations to quickly move through the deployment and acceptance phases of cluster setup. 

Workload Manager Rolls

The Moab Roll adds the Moab Cluster Suite to Rocks+, providing an automated configuration for powerful workload and resource management that integrates scheduling, management, monitoring and reporting for cluster workloads. Platform Computing also worked closely with Clustercorp to create the Lead Sharing Facility or LSF Roll, which adds Platform LSF to Rocks+ and combines intelligent workload management with flexible, simplified cluster management.

The PBS Pro Roll, developed by Altair and Clustercorp, makes it possible to easily create intelligent policies to manage distributed computing assets, including applications, as a single, unified system. Clustercorp also supports installation and configuration of the open source Torque Roll and open source SGE Roll.

 

Rocks+ Support 

 

In addition to access to a comprehensive set of Roll-based solutions, Rocks+ includes support from the company founded by the developers of Open Source Rocks. Rocks+ includes:

• Toll free phone and email support
• Installation and configuration support of open source Rocks Rolls
• 1 to 3 years technical support (depending on the chosen product stock-keeping unit [SKU])

Simplifying High-Performance Computing Clusters

 

The engineering and testing effort behind Dell Rocks+ clusters leaves behind the do-it-yourself, on-the-fly approach from the early days of cluster computing and replaces it with end-to-end services throughout the cluster life cycle. Although this approach is reminiscent of traditional supercomputing, Dell Rocks+ clusters remain both cost-effective and scalable.

This product includes software developed by the Rocks Cluster Group at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego and its contributors.