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Hardware Information for Installation of SCore

  1. Hardware Requirements

    A cluster usually consists of:

    For instance, if you want to build a cluster of 8 compute hosts, you need to buy 9 computers. Though we recommend having a cluster server, you may install software for the cluster server onto one of the compute hosts, so that you don't need to buy a computer for the server.

    A router is also necessary if you plan to connect the cluster to a LAN.

    All processor hosts forming a homogeneous cluster should be of the same architecture and use the same version of the operating system.

  2. Platform and Architecture Requirements

    There is a minimum list of basic parts that are necessary before you can start building your SCore Cluster System. Optional parts are also described.
    1. Basic Parts
      Processors
      • Intel Pentium4, Xeon
      • AMD Opteron
      Configuration
      Single or SMP
      Memory
      More than 64MB. Memory size depends on you applications. The SCore system software uses just a few MBytes

      Disk
      4 GB or more for each compute host, 7 GB or more for the server host

      		Server host Compute host
      System 7 GB 3 GB
      User ~ ~
      ChkPnt 0 B 1GB or more
      Total 7 GB or more 4 GB or more

      Ethernet Card and HUB/Switch
      We strongly recommend using an Ethernet switch or switching HUB instead of a HUB. If you use a HUB, you will not gain the benefit of parallelism.
      The following network cards have been supported on PM/Ethernet: Intel pro/1000 and Broadcom Tigon3 ethernet card.

      VGA
      The SCore system does not require a VGA card in compute hosts, but requires the card in the server host. Note that most BIOS require a VGA card and a keyboard.

      CD-ROM
      The Eeasy Installation Tool 2.0 is required CD-ROM drives on the the all cpmpute hosts, and CD writable drive on the server hosts.
      DVD
      The Eeasy Installation Tool 2.0 is required SCore DVD image. If you get iso image by the network, you must loop mount the iso image on the server. Or if you get SCore DVD, you moust mount the DVD on the server. If you use iso image by the network, you don't need DVD drive.

    2. Optional Parts
      • Myrinet: Myrinet Cards and Switch

        Myrinet Types
        Myrinet NICs
        Myrinet Switches
        Myrinet
        (1.28 Gbps Link)
        M2M-PCI32, M2M-PCI64A-2, M2M-PCI64A-4, M2L-PCI32, M2L-PCI64A-2,M2L-PCI64A-4, or M3M-PCI64B-2
        M3F-SW8, M3-SW16-8S, M3-SPINE-8S, M2M-DUAL-SW8, M2M-OCT-SW8, or M2M-SW16
        Myrinet2000 or Myrinet XP or Myrinet 2XP
        (2.0 Gbps Linx)
        		 M3F-PCI64C-2, M3F-PCI64B-2, M3S-PCI64B-2, M3M-PCI64B-2,M3F-PCIXD-2 or M3F2-PCIXE-2
        M3F-SW8, M3S-SW8, M3M-SW8, M3F-SW16, M3S-SW16, M3M-SW16 Switches or Combinations of Enclosures (M3-E16, M3-E32, M3-E64) and Switch Line Cards(M3-SW-16-8F, M3-SW-16-8S, M3-SW-16-8M, M3-SPINE-8F, M3-SPINE-8S)

        Note that M2M-PCI64A-4, M2L-PCI64A-2, and M2L-PCI64A-4 have not been tested in Real World Computing Partnership.

        To see the Myrinet network configuration, see the PMvII Myrinet Conf(5) man page. If you install the SCore system using the Easy Installation Tool, see these configuration pages:

        Myrinet: Myrinet Configurations
        Myrinet2000: Myrinet2000 Configurations

  3. Testing Platform of SCore in PC Cluster Consortium

    Following systems are used for SCore distribution test in PC Cluster Consortium:
    Vendor [alphabetical order]
    Systems
    Testing Environmnents
    Dell
    PowerEdge 2650
    Dual Xeon 2.8 Ghz 1 server and 9 compute nodes, Myricom M3F2-PCIXE-2 5 nodes, dual Broadcom BCM5701 Gigabit Ethernet
    Dell
    PowerEdge 1750
    Dual Xeon 3.06 GHz 3 compute nodes, Myricom M3F-PCIXD-2 2 nodes, fiber link, Dual Broadcom BCM5704 Gigabit Ethernet
    Dell
    		 PowerEdge 1850
    Dual Xeon 3.4 Ghz 1 compute nodes ,Dual Intel e1000 Gigabit Ethernet
    Dell
    		 PowerEdge 1425
    Dual Xeon 3.4 Ghz 4 compute nodes ,Dual Intel e1000 Gigabit Ethernet

    Obtain Network Information

    It is advisable to obtain your network information before beginning the installation. The following data is used as an example for the Easy Installation, which is shown in the following pages. There is one server host (server) and eight cluster hosts (comp0, comp1, comp2, comp3, comp4, comp5, comp6, comp7):

    server IP Address 192.168.0.2
    comp0 to comp7 IP Addresses 192.168.0.100 -- 192.168.55.107

    Netmask 255.255.255.0
    Default Gateway IP address 192.168.0.1
    Primary Nameserver IP address 192.168.0.1
    Domain Name pccluster.org
    Server Hostname server.pccluster.org
    NIS domain name score

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