We have tested GPFS and got some interesting results.
First some background data: we performed our tests at IBM's european HPC
center. In collaboration with IBM, we tried to find the 'ideal' (in
terms of minimizing wallclock-time) cluster-configuration to run our
acoustics simulation software. Due to the size of the models we treat,
we generally use a direct parallel out-of-core solver. Since it is an
out-of-core solver, disk IO is pretty intensive.
So using our out-of-core solver, we tested our app. using local scratch
disks and compared that to using a GPFS. The main advantage in the end
to me is the flexibility of the system. If some node needs more
scratch-space, this can be easily configured. Also the scalability was
very good. Using 4-core nodes, we also tested the scalability by having
2 or 4 processes using the GPFS simultaneously. The effect of having
multiple processes performing IO simultaneously did however not have a
big effect on the individual bandwidth.
toon
Brent Franks wrote:
Hello,
We have been researching GPFS from IBM and are very interested in what
looks like promising performance and scalability.
Does anyone use GPFS, we are looking at running it in a distributed
mode, rather than using one central SAN.
Additionally, the sales information seems to be rather elusive. We
have contacted IBM, however the channels we contact have all been
somewhat dissapointing as we have had to educate the sales people on
what the product is.
We are very interested in setting up a trial of the software and then
purchasing if it meets our needs. Does anyone have a contact at IBM
or solutions provider who is familiar with GPFS and could send out an
eval kit? 30 or 60 day time bomb would be fine, we just need to
justify to management that it will indeed work for our application.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks and kindest regards,
- Brent
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Toon Knapen
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