Fred, It may be that some HPC users "have to" reverify the results of their computations as being exactly the same as a previous software stack and that is not a minor task. Any change may require this verification process..... Ken Atkjnson
On Thu, 20 Feb 2020, 14:35 Frederick Stock, <sto...@us.ibm.com> wrote: > This is a bit off the point of this discussion but it seemed like an > appropriate context for me to post this question. IMHO the state of > software is such that it is expected to change rather frequently, for > example the OS on your laptop/tablet/smartphone and your web browser. It > is correct to say those devices are not running an HPC or enterprise > environment but I mention them because I expect none of us would think of > running those devices on software that is a version far from the latest > available. With that as background I am curious to understand why folks > would continue to run systems on software like RHEL 6.x which is now two > major releases(and many years) behind the current version of that product? > Is it simply the effort required to upgrade 100s/1000s of nodes and the > disruption that causes, or are there other factors that make keeping > current with OS releases problematic? I do understand it is not just a > matter of upgrading the OS but all the software, like Spectrum Scale, that > runs atop that OS in your environment. While they all do not remain in > lock step I would think that in some window of time, say 12-18 months > after an OS release, all software in your environment would support a > new/recent OS release that would technically permit the system to be > upgraded. > > I should add that I think you want to be on or near the latest release of > any software with the presumption that newer versions should be an > improvement over older versions, albeit with the usual caveats of new > defects. > > Fred > __________________________________________________ > Fred Stock | IBM Pittsburgh Lab | 720-430-8821 > sto...@us.ibm.com > > > > ----- Original message ----- > From: Jonathan Buzzard <jonathan.buzz...@strath.ac.uk> > Sent by: gpfsug-discuss-boun...@spectrumscale.org > To: "gpfsug-discuss@spectrumscale.org" <gpfsug-discuss@spectrumscale.org> > Cc: > Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [gpfsug-discuss] GPFS 5 and supported rhel OS > Date: Thu, Feb 20, 2020 6:24 AM > > On 20/02/2020 10:41, Simon Thompson wrote: > > Well, if you were buying some form of extended Life Support for > > Scale, then you might also be expecting to buy extended life for > > RedHat. RHEL6 has extended life support until June 2024. Sure its an > > add on subscription cost, but some people might be prepared to do > > that over OS upgrades. > > I would recommend anyone going down that to route to take a *very* close > look at what you get for the extended support. Not all of the OS is > supported, with large chunks being moved to unsupported even if you pay > for the extended support. > > Consequently extended support is not suitable for HPC usage in my view, > so start planning the upgrade now. It's not like you haven't had 10 > years notice. > > If your GPFS is just a storage thing serving out on protocol nodes, > upgrade one node at a time to RHEL7 and then repeat upgrading to GPFS 5. > It's a relatively easy invisible to the users upgrade. > > JAB. > > -- > Jonathan A. Buzzard Tel: +44141-5483420 > HPC System Administrator, ARCHIE-WeSt. > University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Building, Glasgow. G4 0NG > _______________________________________________ > gpfsug-discuss mailing list > gpfsug-discuss at spectrumscale.org > http://gpfsug.org/mailman/listinfo/gpfsug-discuss > > > > > _______________________________________________ > gpfsug-discuss mailing list > gpfsug-discuss at spectrumscale.org > http://gpfsug.org/mailman/listinfo/gpfsug-discuss >
_______________________________________________ gpfsug-discuss mailing list gpfsug-discuss at spectrumscale.org http://gpfsug.org/mailman/listinfo/gpfsug-discuss