Comments on: Lessons Learned, Again http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/ Open Source, Open Standards Sat, 05 Oct 2013 13:48:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: notinhnotien7 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5622 notinhnotien7 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5622 Thanks for sharing your experiences. My question to you and ARC HPC Training are the followings:<br /> <br /> 1. Are you and others going to write books about all the topics that are taught at the training for those who simply could not attend these training?<br /> <br /> 2. If no books from you and others, could you recommend a systematic process to acquire all needed knowledges to be on top of administrating, designing HPC.<br /> <br /> Thank you. Thanks for sharing your experiences. My question to you and ARC HPC Training are the followings:

1. Are you and others going to write books about all the topics that are taught at the training for those who simply could not attend these training?

2. If no books from you and others, could you recommend a systematic process to acquire all needed knowledges to be on top of administrating, designing HPC.

Thank you.

]]> By: pbock http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5623 pbock Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5623 I second the requests from the message posted by notinhnotien7. <br /> <br /> Unfortunately, from what I can see the list of needed knowledge is simply '*everything*' (the *'s are to to include anything I left out with the word 'everything') <br /> <br /> Pretty much everything from assembly level programming in BIOS all the way up to network administration, with all the little nitty gritty details in between. <br /> <br /> You could maybe get a simple cluster working without all that knowledge, but you'll have to learn all that stuff anyway when it breaks, or you switch out one piece of hardware like the article mentions, or you change something in the software stack, or click the left mouse button with the wrong finger, etc. <br /> <br /> You also need to be able to test every component; is the problem with node 6 a bad NIC, or a BIOS setting, or did the penguin|cat|dog chew on your ethernet cable? I second the requests from the message posted by notinhnotien7.

Unfortunately, from what I can see the list of needed knowledge is simply ‘*everything*’ (the *’s are to to include anything I left out with the word ‘everything’)

Pretty much everything from assembly level programming in BIOS all the way up to network administration, with all the little nitty gritty details in between.

You could maybe get a simple cluster working without all that knowledge, but you’ll have to learn all that stuff anyway when it breaks, or you switch out one piece of hardware like the article mentions, or you change something in the software stack, or click the left mouse button with the wrong finger, etc.

You also need to be able to test every component; is the problem with node 6 a bad NIC, or a BIOS setting, or did the penguin|cat|dog chew on your ethernet cable?

]]> By: doubtful500 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5624 doubtful500 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5624 Response to notinhnotien7:<br /> <br /> We think that there should be more publicly available information about building and running clusters, which is why all of the student material is available via our Wiki. We require all of our instructors to allow us to post their material, and the instructors--and the organizations for which they work--have graciously complied.<br /> <br /> You can find the material for the different courses at https://www.middleware.georgetown.edu/confluence/display/HPCT/Home.<br /> <br /> Response to pbock:<br /> <br /> Yes, as a builder and maintainer of clusters one is required to know something of everything. Fortunately, things are getting easier on the administration side in part because there are now many hardware companies that will do the testing to make sure those NICs work with the motherboards on Linux.<br /> <br /> Jess Cannata<br /> Advanced Research Computing &<br /> High Performance Computing Training<br /> Georgetown University<br /> jac67@georgetown.edu Response to notinhnotien7:

We think that there should be more publicly available information about building and running clusters, which is why all of the student material is available via our Wiki. We require all of our instructors to allow us to post their material, and the instructors–and the organizations for which they work–have graciously complied.

You can find the material for the different courses at https://www.middleware.georgetown.edu/confluence/display/HPCT/Home.

Response to pbock:

Yes, as a builder and maintainer of clusters one is required to know something of everything. Fortunately, things are getting easier on the administration side in part because there are now many hardware companies that will do the testing to make sure those NICs work with the motherboards on Linux.

Jess Cannata
Advanced Research Computing &
High Performance Computing Training
Georgetown University
jac67@georgetown.edu

]]> By: doubtful500 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5625 doubtful500 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.linux-mag.com/id/6647/#comment-5625 The link should not include the period (.)<br /> <br /> https://www.middleware.georgetown.edu/confluence/display/HPCT/Home The link should not include the period (.)

https://www.middleware.georgetown.edu/confluence/display/HPCT/Home

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