Intel Cluster Checker can run a variety of tests depending on what the user is trying to accomplish. For general wellness of a cluster, Intel Cluster Checker offers five levels of thoroughness. For automation, we'll focus on levels one, three, and five.

Wellness Level One is a very short run of tests that check basic connectivity throughout the cluster as well as basic uniformity checks amongst the nodes.  This test focuses on BIOS settings, and processor, memory and system configurations. The level one tests are quick and show that the cluster is online and ready for use.

Wellness Level Three is the default run level for Intel Cluster Checker. It builds on level one and includes more rigorous modules that test parameters like disk and memory bandwidth, MFLOPS, and network performance. It also performs an in-depth hardware uniformity test along with an Intel MPI Collectives and message Integrity test. It takes a bit longer to run this check that assures the performance of the hardware is up to par.

Wellness Level Five adds a packages test, comparing currently installed packages with a generated list of expected packages at a given time. It also runs the HPCC module (a performance benchmark test). The level five tests can take a bit longer but assures the users that all the pieces of the system are working in harmony. This test is useful for the admin to make sure a user hasn’t installed or uninstalled anything that may affect the cluster.

For my clusters, I have set up the following schedule that runs these wellness levels at various times.

• Level One - set to run each weekday
• Level Three - set to run once a week, on Saturday
• Level Five - set to run monthly, on the first Sunday

For our lab with multiple smaller clusters this automation schedule is perfect, allowing users to login to one of the clusters, see when each of the wellness levels passed and know that their jobs will run as expected.

Every cluster has a different purpose and a different load. Running tests at the intervals or frequency I have set may not be feasible or needed for every cluster. However, automating the test runs on a schedule that meets your needs will help assure that your cluster performance remains optimal, and frees up the cluster(s) for jobs during normal business hours.

References:

>> Review Part 1

>> About Intel Cluster Checker

>> Intel Cluster Checker Knowledge Base

Whether you're a cluster user that expects optimal performance and functionality every time you run a job, or a system administrator that needs to keep the cluster in perfect working order for your users, running checks on a regular basis is important!

A great way to ensure that your HPC system, certified Intel Cluster Ready, remains in the same great shape as when it was first built, is to run the Intel® Cluster Checker tool regularly.

While it’s easy enough to run Intel Cluster Checker on your cluster(s) once a week, I've found there are times when I was too busy, or simply forgot to run a check. For this reason, and because I have multiple clusters to check, I developed a method to automate Intel Cluster Checker runs. This automated solution runs Intel Cluster Checker and reports any errors directly to me and/or the system administrator. Not only does automating this process save the administrator a substantial amount of time each week, it will eliminate the chance of missing a run, and ensures that the cluster remains in optimal health.

A Cluster That Checks Itself

In order to automate the process, it is important that your Intel Cluster Checker passes a manual run first. To do this, make sure the configuration file is optimized to ensure the cluster is operating at its best. With the perfect configuration on hand, a script is then needed to setup the system, run Intel Cluster Checker, and report the results.

For the first phase of the process, I wrote a script that sets up the environment and runs the most in-depth wellness check in Intel Cluster Checker. I used cron to schedule my script to execute once a week. After the results are complete, the script updates the message of the day to show when the last check ran and the results. If the check fails, the log file created by Intel Cluster Checker will be copied to the specified directory where it can be accessed and analyzed.

The cluster is now setup to check itself, in the middle of the night, and report its status upon login!

Read Part 2 for more about scheduling test runs, and the different levels of wellness tests in Intel Cluster Checker.

References:

>> About Intel Cluster Checker

>> Intel Cluster Checker Knowledge Base

While manning the Intel Cluster Ready demonstration pod, I was able to listen in on Drew and Kirk talk about how real-time simulations are helping protect football players from serious injury.  They showed how helmets outfitted with sensors are being used to study and relay data about individual impacts to the head of players.  Simulations for those impacts can predict when dangerous levels of force have occurred and players are likely to have suffered a concussion.

This data can be used to help design better equipment, but more importantly may help prevent serious, long-term injury.  Players who have experienced a concussion may not feel the immediate effects or may not want to leave the game.  Additional impacts, however, can cause much more severe injury.  The simulation data can help identify when players need to be pulled out of a game for medical evaluation and/or to avoid serious injury.

It was a really cool demonstration to see - they even cracked two helmets together to show a live simulation of impact. One of many neat examples of high performance computing in action that I got to see at the show.

>> See related stories

Desktop Engineering: Intel to Safeguard Brains

Intel Newsroom: Intel Teams Up with Leading Researchers to Make Football Helmets Safer

Were you there? Please leave your comments about SC10.

Check back for more news and a follow-up from SC10.

Let Intel Cluster Ready be your guide…

Take the Intel Innovation Tour, learn about some of the Intel Cluster Ready partners, and enter to win a HP Pavilion Mini Netbook. Several tours each day, and a daily drawing at 5:00pm Wed. Check at Intel booth #2813 for times and details.

In-Booth Presentations & Demos at Intel Booth #2813
Come by to see the demos, hear about the latest Intel technologies, and catch up with the Intel Cluster Ready team and partners.

Presentation:

• Wednesday, Nov. 17, 10:00 am – Intel's Bill Magro will present Everything Works! End User Experience with Intel Cluster Ready. Come hear about end users like Simpson Strong-Tie and others who are reaping the value of an Intel Cluster Ready cluster.

Demos:

• 7 Reasons Why You Need Intel Cluster Ready, by Aspen Systems, Inc., Professional HPC Clusters and Services
• Appro Ready-To-Go Cluster Demo: Ready-To-Go Clusters for Seismic Coverage Validation Engine, part of Halliburton, Landmark ProMAX® software suite - Maximize geophysical investments with Appro Ready-To-Go Cluster, a pre-configured Intel® Cluster Ready certified supercomputing solution. Pre-tested to run Landmark's new Seismic Coverage Validation software tools, this solution makes the process of choosing the right system easy.

More Fun Events to Come at SC10!

HPC Idol 2010 – Giving up those HPC blues. Have time for a party on Wednesday evening? Don't miss the Platform Computing party at the House of Blues, from 6:30 – 10:00pm, Nov 17th.

Possibly, one of the highlights of this event will be an original, never before and likely never again, song from Intel Cluster Ready.... "Get Ready" with back-up vocals by the "Clusterettes."

How do you get your invitation to attend? Just stop by the Platform Computing booth #2739, Intel booth #2813, or QLogic booth #3649 to ask for an invitation to attend!

Partner Presentations

In the Appro Booth #1939:
Wednesday Nov 17th -

• 11:15am – Intel Cluster Ready and Appro Ready-To-Go Clusters, Rick Layden, Intel

• 11:45pm – Ready-To-Go Clusters with ANSYS, Barbara Hutchings, ANSYS

In the QLogic Booth #3649:
Wednesday Nov 17th -

• 1:30 pm – It's all about InfiniBand Clusters, presented by Jeremy Siadal of Intel.

Don't forget to look for us, your Intel Cluster Ready team, in booths 2813 and 4517.

Hope to see you here in New Orleans!

WHO: Halliburton's (NYSE: HAL) Landmark and Software Services business line, premier provider of software and technology for the upstream oil and gas industry, and Appro, a leading provider of supercomputing solutions, and Intel, a world leader in computing innovation

WHAT: Announce the launch of an Appro pre-configured Intel® Cluster Ready certified supercomputing solution that is pre-tested to run Landmark's new Seismic Coverage Validation Tools.  The wave equation-based Illumination and Visibility software helps geoscientists design 3D seismic surveys and select processing parameters optimized for geologic targets in traditionally poorly imaged areas. The software runs on a pre-configured Appro GreenBlade™ System based on Intel® Xeon® processors featuring dual socket, 32 nodes with up to 12 CPU cores per node and 8GB of memory. The result provides geoscientists with an Intel® Cluster Ready solution that is easy to deploy and maintain "out of the box."

WHEN: Demonstrations will occur at the SEG International Exposition October 17 – 20 in Denver, CO.

WHERE: Appro booth #1116, Halliburton booth #1611, and Intel booth #2562.

WHY: Complex subsurface environments, like deepwater and subsalt, present many challenges to seismic acquisition design and imaging, including azimuthal orientation, image shadows and amplitude variations in the data which can lead to incorrect interpretations and reservoir models. Landmark's Illumination and Visibility technology analyze and model the seismic signal from source, to subsurface target, to receiver so that the geophysicist can optimize imaging parameters to a specific subsurface target or make the required design changes to future seismic acquisition surveys. These accurate wave equation-based techniques are compute intensive, requiring the high performance computing from Appro's cluster deployment. This architecture, optimized to run Landmark's Seismic Coverage Validation tools, will provide faster results so geoscientists can make improved and more timely exploration decisions while lowering overall exploration costs.

For more information please visit www.halliburton.com.

About Appro
Appro is a leading developer of supercomputing solutions. Appro is uniquely positioned to support High Performance Computing markets focusing on small, medium to large-scale deployments where lower total cost of ownership is essential. Appro accelerates technical data-intensive applications for faster business results through outstanding price/performance, balanced architecture coupled with latest technologies, open standards and engineering expertise. Appro headquarters is in Milpitas, CA with offices in Korea and Houston, TX.

To learn more go to www.appro.com.

About Landmark
Landmark is the premier provider of software and technology services for the upstream oil and gas industry. Our software solutions, built for the DecisionSpace® environment, help improve insight from data in ways never possible before, across the entire exploration and production life cycle. Landmark's technology deployment and hosting services, petrotechnical computing portfolio, software training, and certified customer support are globally available to help our customers realize the maximum return on their technology investments.

Visit www.halliburton.com/landmark/ for more information.

About Halliburton
Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry. With more than 55,000 employees in approximately 70 countries, the company serves the upstream oil and gas industry throughout the life cycle of the reservoir - from locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production through the life of the field.

Visit the company's Web site at www.halliburton.com

In conjunction with Supercomputing 2010, Intel will release a new update to the Intel® Cluster Ready specification. I previewed a couple of the biggest changes in the specification in this quarter's Intel Cluster Ready Newsletter.

The big change is how certified solutions will now present the defined software interface to the application layer. The update will now require defined "sets" of specific versions of libraries rather than the minimum version or later approach that exists today. Backwards compatibility of application to solution is the key driver of this change. The new requirements provide flexibility for solutions to provide a range of defined interfaces to the application layer, and applications will better understand the exact interface present on a solution. Applications that require a specific set of libraries can quickly determine if the set is present on a given solution. Solutions can choose how many library sets, or how far back, to support.

There are other changes in the coming update as well aimed at simplifications, clarifications, and appropriate expansions to requirements aimed at making HPC clusters more attractive and simple to operate. Check out the newsletter for more information.

>> Read the full article

Not familiar with the Intel Cluster Ready specification?

>> Learn more about Intel Cluster Ready

>> Review the Intel Cluster Ready specification version 1.1

>> Join the forum discussion to find out more, or answer this question:

If you had the pen, how would you improve the Intel Cluster Ready specification?

See how Silicon Mechanics, SIMULIA, and a certified Intel Cluster Ready solution are helping a leading global manufacturer accelerate development of its structural building products.

Read more about their HPC solution, or download the case study.

Today, the field of computer simulation is on the threshold of a new era. Once reserved for national laboratories, large corporations and premier research universities, computer simulation is stepping out of the shadows and onto the main stage. Driving this migration is the need to reduce product development time and cost. Creating and testing a digital version of new products is proving to be less expensive and more complete than the costly physical prototyping method.

Product developers, from bicycles used in the Tour de France to power tools used to build your son that tree house, are employing ideas like digital prototyping, simulation based design or analysis driven design to create newer, more innovative products which impact the way we live.

Three forces are making it easier to employ simulations in the design process:
1) ISV’s are developing and deploying simple to use frameworks that make it easier to build, simulate and understand models

2) High Performance Computing is more affordable and accessible than ever before.

3) ISV’s and the technology industry are creating standards which are making it easier to deploy and maintain solutions

Independent Software Vendors like ANSYS, Altair, MSC Nastran and others are breaking the “expert” mold and making their products easier to use, extending the benefits of simulation based engineering to more users.

• Today, products like the ANSYS Workbench offer a straightforward easy to use framework that helps even the novice simulation engineer employ a rich suite of advanced engineering simulation technology. With its drag and drop framework, the ANSYS Workbench guides engineers through even some of the most complex multi-physics analyses. With bi-directional CAD connectivity, an automated project level update mechanism, pervasive parameter management and integrated optimization tools, the ANSYS Workbench delivers unprecedented productivity, enabling Simulation Driven Product Development.

• SimXpert, from MSC Software represents the next generation CAE application for modeling and analysis using FEA and multi-body dynamics (MBD). Integrated with MSC's advanced multidiscipline (MD) solver technologies, SimXpert provides users an efficient easy to use “end-to-end” solution that takes engineers from CAD to analysis report in a single easy-to-use application. SimXpert provides native access to CAD data and easy-to use tools to automate their simulation jobs and get results fast. Its unified user environment also enables teams to share data, models, results and best practices across time zones, geographic boundaries, and CAE disciplines, so they can approach problems more consistently and get reliable results faster.

• HyperWorks, from Altair, enables efficient product design, evaluation, optimization, and validation, yielding insightful information and performance metrics that are necessary for sound and timely product decision making. With HyperWorks, users will be able to test and validate more design ideas, alternative materials and manufacturing methods in less time than ever before. It can also help users reduce the number of expensive physical models needed and speed up the design process. With HyperWorks, automation of routine and best-practice engineering tasks also permits a greater amount of virtual testing to be done efficiently.

High performance computing is now more broadly available than ever before.

Once reserved for glass rooms, supercomputers can now be found in your deskside workstation, office, department or division and, of course, in national laboratories and corporate data centers. HPC solutions are now more affordable, easier to use and accessible than ever before.

HPC, from the early days, was all about making the intractable problem tractable. Seymour Cray, the grandfather of HPC, was once asked to comment on the drivers of performance in HPC. He used one word as a response, and then continued to define it. The word he used was balance. Balance, of course, was comprised of several components which included processing power, memory capacity, memory bandwidth and system I/O. The reason for his focus on balance was its impact on delivered application performance. If you focus on only one of the resources (e.g. compute acceleration), you might find that delivered application performance is only a small fraction of the claimed performance improvement afforded by compute acceleration.

The new microarchitecture named Nehalem (the foundation of the Intel® Xeon® processor 3500 and 5500 series) rewrites the book on processor scalability, performance, and energy efficiency.

The Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series is now a foundation component in most HPC solutions. Behind the performance of this new processor are several Intel technologies which create the balance necessary for the performance you need to solve large scale problems faster.

• Intel® Turbo Boost Technology. This technology (in combination with Intel® Intelligent Power Technology described below), delivers performance on demand, allowing processors to operate above the rated frequency to speed specific workloads and drop back down to reduce power consumption during low utilization periods.

• Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology. This well-known Intel innovation provides more performance for applications designed for parallel, multi-threaded execution by reducing computational latency and making optimal use of every cycle. Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology benefits from this latest Intel microarchitecture’s larger caches and massive memory bandwidth, delivering greater throughput and responsiveness for multi-threaded applications.

• Intel® QuickPath Technology. This new, scalable, shared memory architecture integrates a memory controller into each microprocessor and connects processors and other components with a new high-speed interconnect. It speeds traffic between processors and I/O controllers for bandwidth-intensive applications, delivering up to 3.5 times the bandwidth for technical computing.

• Intel® Intelligent Power Technology. This feature enables policy-based control that allows processors to operate at optimal frequency and power. Operating systems can make this determination automatically, or administrators can designate which applications require high-frequency processing and which should be executed at lower frequencies to conserve power.

Simplifying Clusters – Helping More Users Realize The Performance of HPC
The Intel® Cluster Ready mark represents compatibility, reliability, and quality to the buyer of the cluster and the components in that cluster. It is a program and technology package that is intended to make it easier to acquire and use clusters built with Intel components.

Intel® Cluster Ready is a program and technology that helps simplify the deployment, usage and management of clustered computer systems by providing a standardized and replicable way to build clusters and run "off-the-shelf" high-performance applications.

• ICR enables software developers to validate just one time across many hardware platforms, speeding development and time-to-market readiness.

• Intel Cluster Ready includes a software registration process for compatible HPC applications and a hardware certification process that utilizes the Intel® Cluster Checker. This tool checks the cluster hardware and software components to ensure they correctly interoperate.

• Intel Cluster Checker also includes fault isolation, helping to improve early detection of cluster problems that can decrease productivity and increase support costs.

Intel Cluster Ready Program Benefits and Advantages

Application Portability
• First and foremost: Intel Cluster Ready ISV applications have been tested to run on clusters certified as Intel Cluster Ready. You will no longer have to worry “if” your applications will run on a given cluster; instead, with a cluster certified as Intel Cluster Ready, you can focus on the features and performance you need to get your job done.

The result is:
• Reduced effort to configure, acquire, and deploy clusters that run the ISV applications you rely on.
• Increased productivity

Common Basis for Clusters
• The Intel Cluster Ready Specification is the key to Intel Cluster Ready; it eliminates sources of variability that do not impact performance, usability, or utility, but can spell disaster when left unspecified. Beyond documentation, the Intel Cluster Checker increases fidelity with direct measurements of conformance to specification and system performance. When support is needed, the Intel Cluster Checker speeds problem diagnosis, allowing you to return to productive work as quickly as possible.

You will benefit from:
• Improved operating experience, from initial power-on through continuing production operations
• Reduced support effort and costs
• Component Interoperability
• Components certified as Intel Cluster Ready which enable you to confidently select from a variety of hardware and software components. This is especially valuable as your computing requirements change, allowing you to modify existing capabilities and add new capabilities as needed.

The result is:
• Greater flexibility in cluster configurations
• Lower total cost of ownership
• Increased application performance

The Many Shapes Of High Performance Cluster Computers

The Digital Workbench
Once thought of as a design terminal, today’s workstation provides users with a digital workbench that is powered by two Intel Xeon 5500 series processors that can host a suite of software applications engineers employ to create and test their ideas. The pliers, hammer and nails found on a workbench in a garage or basement have now been replaced with digital tools that promise to accelerate innovations via a process known as digital prototyping. Its enablers include application tools such as detailed CAD, CAE and PIM. The digital workbench exceeds the computational power of the Cray C90 series, once revered as the fastest HPC in the previous decade. Together, the software advances of ISV’s and the performance of a digital workbench provide access to a powerful innovation tool you can use to bring your ideas forward faster than ever before.

Deskside Personal Clusters
Equipped with significantly more performance improvement from previous generation single core processors, the Xeon processor based deskside personal clusters such as the Cray CX1 supercomputer can deliver industry-leading performance across a broad range of applications and standard benchmarks, all in a compact, deskside system that plugs into a standard wall outlet. The personal cluster is designed for individuals and departmental workgroups as simple to configure, deploy, administer and use.

Personal clusters, like the Cray CX1, take the HPC cluster out of the data center and place it next to your desk. Your simulations just got faster; your productivity just hit a new high.

Cluster Based Supercomputing
Often called Beowulf clusters, cluster based supercomputing represents a collection of independent nodes that are assembled to attack your most computationally intense business problems. They are typically based on an array of Intel Xeon based processors connected via high speed digital fabrics ranging from GigE to infiniband based networks to provide amazing computational resources. They afford you an opportunity to scale the same architecture from small, medium and large-sized HPC deployments across a broad range of vertical markets like aerospace, automotive and consumer electronics.

Racked clusters such as the digital workbench and deskside personal cluster, offer you the greatest flexibility and best balance between computational load and memory bandwidth, and do not require as large a degree of code optimization as some other architectures that are available.

Which HPC Model Is Best For You
As we stated at the beginning of this article ----- the field of computer simulation is on the threshold of a new era. The need to continually reduce product development time and cost is placing more pressure on industries in all verticals to adopt modern workflows that enable organizations to test a digital version of a new product before it is ever built.

If you are just starting to explore these new workflows or if you want to give your engineers an opportunity to move beyond design and allow them to digitally test their ideas against the defined design criteria, you may be better served with an array of digital workbenches rather than single socket workstations.

The digital workbench will allow you to move beyond CAD and allow you to not only design your next product, but also test it for form, fit, and function. The value of exploring multiple digital prototypes rather than just a single physical prototype will be very apparent.

If you have been doing simulation based design and you need to explore larger models, you may want to explore personal or departmental clusters like the CX1. These systems are designed for scalability and ease of use. They deliver remarkable performance in office friendly form factors, and are very capable at modeling complete car crashes in the same time frame used to modify your design.

The experts will tend towards large and extremely scalable Beowulf clusters. These systems provide access to immense resources that are capable of delivering the necessary processing power, memory capacity, memory bandwidth and system level i/o to solve the largest problems in as little time as possible. If you want to explore Intel technologies used in HPC solutions please visit our web site at http://www.intel.com/go/HPC

For more information about Intel Cluster Ready, go to www.intel.com/go/cluster

Authored by Wes Shimanek, Strategic Marketing Manager, Intel Corporation and Mike Haedrich, High Performance Computing Product Manager, Intel Corporation

This article by Intel Corporation was originally published 10-26-2009 on www.InventorConnections.com

The Intel® Cluster Ready Program enables faster, easier deployment of higher performance HPC clusters based on the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series. Intel Cluster Ready makes it simpler to choose, deploy and manage HPC clusters, and ensures application and system interoperability. In doing so, it enables companies to rapidly capitalize on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series and use it to solve bigger problems, expedite total application performance, and reduce TCO. Bottom line: simpler, more powerful and more cost-effective high performance computing. The Intel Cluster Ready certification gives customers another reason to deploy the Appro GreenBlade solution by offering confidence that the cluster architecture and software are certified to work together. It also gives Independent Software Vendors (ISV) the ability to run their software in this certified cluster platform providing a fast and cost-effective implementation for industry-specific solutions.
Not all blades are created equal. In the HPC sector, blades need to be both green and provide high performance. The Appro GreenBlade System provides an extremely flexible and manageable way to create high-density computing. It is designed to scale, with little effort or re-configuration.
The Appro cluster solution based on the GreenBlade building block offers a variety of interconnect options to include only standard 1U Ethernet or 1U Infiniband (IB) switches. This is accomplished by pre-allocating space in each rack cabinet for two standard 24-port Infiniband or Ethernet switches. This offers flexibility for customers who may choose to deploy either an Ethernet or IB-based HPC cluster. Appro also offers variations in the Infiniband interconnect with ConnectX DDR single IB, DDR dual IB or QDR single IB configurations. The Appro GreenBlade is unique in this category; each blade can provide one or two QDR InfiniBand ports on the motherboard and thus do not require any additional PCIe HCAs to be added to the blade. All these options provide excellent network bandwidth and low latency at an affordable price point to many HPC workloads that require higher performance for their applications.
In addition, the Appro GreenBlade offers standards-based Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) with a choice of Appro’s remote server management or open source cluster management software solutions.
Long considered to be primarily useful only for HPC-scale deployments, blades are beginning to make inroads into the midsize HPC segment. With the introduction of blade products designed specifically for the needs of this market, such as the Appro GreenBlade system, midsize HPC customers are more likely to turn to blades for their day-to-day server infrastructure needs. The Appro GreenBlade is suited for small to midsize departmental and workgroup high performance computing data centers looking for flexibility of system configuration and network connectivity. This addresses the need for performance, reliability, floor space, power and cooling limitations, storage and remote management options at an affordable price. In addition, the Appro GreenBlade is ideal for HPC applications that require high bandwidth and low latency access to system memory, clustering, and Storage Area Networks (SAN).