Thanks for all the answers!
My next question - how easy or difficult is it to virtualize such a lab
environment? Setting up physical hardware turned out ot be non-trivial, and
I have easy access to a choice of VirtualBox, AWS, or possibly VMWare.
The main concern I have with virtualizing an xCAT cluster is replicating
the networking in a useful way - IPMI in particular, but also SNMP and
whatever else may be required.
Thanks!
On Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 4:46 PM, Christian Caruthers <ccaruth...@lenovo.com>
wrote:
> 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 <(757)%20289-9872>
>
>
>
> *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> 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>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------
> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
> engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
> _______________________________________________
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> xCAT-user@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcat-user
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> 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>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------
> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
> engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
> _______________________________________________
> xCAT-user mailing list
> xCAT-user@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcat-user
>
>
--
_______________________________________________________________________
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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