CentOS 7.x Rocks cluster 7.0 Introduction

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Types of nodes

Rocks cluster ( http://www.rocksclusters.org/ ) allows us to build a cluster of machines so that they can be used for HPC purposes. In this case we have at least three types of nodes:

Rolls-server

This is setup initially to setup a master server. After master server is setup this may not be required

Master-server

This is the main node which is accessible from LAN. Typically all other nodes other than master are in a private network where only master / compute nodes communicate. This node has graphical access. Most other nodes have console access only.

Compute-server

Once master is built with appropriate public and private network configuration. In private network we can boot compute node via network and set it up. Once setup we can use this node to execute jobs.

Network requirement

We need two types of networks:

Public network

This is normal LAN network (not public Internet) for organization. The master node is accessible from anywhere in the organization. Any task on cluster must be done via master node. This network should have access to Internet and DNS.

Private network

This can be a L2 network without any gateway / L3 switch SVI IP. Only a separate VLAN / separate network is required. This should be a very high speed (at least 10gbps or 100gbps infiband) network. All cluster core communication happens over this network.

DNS resolution

During master server setup we need FQDN of master node to resolve to its public IP via DNS.

Cluster services

Master nodes provides following services:

DNS

It allows master node to resolve computer nodes from name to IP. Compute nodes are named compute-0-0.local, compute-0-1.local and so on assuming the domain name for private network is .local (Default)

DHCP

It allows compute node to get appropriate IP via DHCP

Pxe-boot

It allows compute nodes to boot via PXE for automated software installation (Zero touch provisioning)

Monitoring

It has a ganglia based monitoring front dashboard. By default it is accesible only on localhost but we can make it accessible over public LAN.

Roles

Initially we setup a rolls server and use it to setup master node. After that all roles are created and saved in master node. We can optionally create additional roles under master as per requirement. This roles are intended to automatically configure a new compute node (or manually configure existing compute node). This allows cluster nodes to have identical configuration

NFS Home folder

All compute nodes /home comes from /export/home of master. This allows all compute nodes and even master to have a common shared drive.

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