Thank you so much for those suggestions! Are there any special requirements
for the switches? My understanding that xcat manages switches as well as
nodes.
On Sat, Aug 26, 2017 at 6:54 AM, Christian Caruthers <ccaruth...@lenovo.com>
wrote:
> My lab cluster is comprised of old iDataPlex systems, a few 1Gb switches,
> and some old fibre connected storage. None of this is hardware I'll come
> across at a customer site. A few systems have old BMC management processors
> instead of IMMs. Here are some things I like to have in the lab:
>
>
>
> Systems w/ management controllers. Being able to power cycle and see
> console remotely is a must. So long as my software can work with it, it'll
> do.
>
> Multiple networks with ISLs between switches. Maybe I want to test or
> update a bonding script. Maybe I have a project that requires nodes be on 2
> networks/VLANs.
>
> Storage. You don't use GPFS, but shared storage is still a part of your
> cluster.
>
>
>
> From a performance perspective, it would be nice to replicate the network
> you have since not all performance-related configurations scale linearly.
> Still, understanding what works on a 1Gb network will at least give you
> insight into what might work in a 10Gb network.
>
>
>
> For my lab system, the goal is flexibility. I want to be able to configure
> it multiple ways to address multiple scenarios (preferrably w/o having to
> drive 3.5 hours to Morrisville). I don't really care about the hardware -
> it's really old and lab performance is not going to match production. In
> your case, I think flexibility would still be valuable, but you have a
> production environment for which you want a test bed. Using what you have,
> replicate the systems in your production environment. You have a management
> node, some compute nodes, and an NFS storage node. Start with that.
>
>
>
> Regards,
> *Christian Caruthers*
> Lenovo Professional Services
>
> Mobile: 757-289-9872 <(757)%20289-9872>
>
>
>
> *From:* Kevin Keane [mailto:kke...@sandiego.edu]
> *Sent:* Friday, August 25, 2017 1:43 PM
> *To:* xCAT Users Mailing list
> *Subject:* [xcat-user] Recommendations for a lab environment
>
>
>
> We currently have a production cluster managed by xCAT - Lenovo-based, 16
> compute nodes, management node, storage node. Each node has dual 1 Gb NICs,
> plus two 10 Gb NICs used as interconnect. All Intel CPUs.
>
> What I am looking for is to set up a lab environment "on the cheap" using
> old retired hardware (or possibly a virtual environment). I can get my hand
> on retired HP or Dell servers easily, and probably also on some networking
> hardware (although not 10 Gb). By necessity, this cluster can't be a clone
> of the production environment. It will have fewer cores per node, fewer
> nodes, less memory, different networking setup.
>
> The goal is four-fold:
>
> - Learn more about xCAT without breaking the production cluster.
>
> - Test improvements for the production cluster.
>
> - Test and dry-run future major future software upgrades (such as, from
> RedHat 6.7 to 7.4).
>
> - Test installing additional application software for end-users before it
> goes on the production cluster.
>
>
> What I'm looking for is recommendations on what to pay attention to in
> order to make this "playground" as useful as possible, within the
> constraints.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> --
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Kevin Keane | Systems Architect | University of San Diego ITS |
> kke...@sandiego.edu
> Maher Hall, 192 |5998 Alcalá Park | San Diego, CA 92110-2492 |
> 619.260.6859 <%28619%29%20260-2298>
>
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>
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Kevin Keane | Systems Architect | University of San Diego ITS |
kke...@sandiego.edu
Maher Hall, 192 |5998 Alcalá Park | San Diego, CA 92110-2492 | 619.260.6859
<%28619%29%20260-2298>
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