I haven't used that feature, but it's documented here:
https://sourceforge.net/p/xcat/wiki/Managing_Ethernet_Switches/
Regards,
Christian Caruthers
Lenovo Professional Services
Mobile: 757-289-9872
From: Kevin Keane [mailto:kke...@sandiego.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2017 6:43 PM
To: xCAT Users Mailing list
Subject: Re: [xcat-user] Recommendations for a lab environment
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<mailto: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<tel:(757)%20289-9872>
From: Kevin Keane [mailto:kke...@sandiego.edu<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<mailto:kke...@sandiego.edu>
Maher Hall, 192 |5998 Alcalá Park | San Diego, CA 92110-2492 |
619.260.6859<tel:%28619%29%20260-2298>
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_______________________________________________________________________
Kevin Keane | Systems Architect | University of San Diego ITS |
kke...@sandiego.edu<mailto:kke...@sandiego.edu>
Maher Hall, 192 |5998 Alcalá Park | San Diego, CA 92110-2492 |
619.260.6859<tel:%28619%29%20260-2298>
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