Five Essential Strategies for Successful HPC Clusters

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A successful HPC cluster is a powerful asset for an organization. At the same time, these powerful racks present a multifaceted resource to manage. If not properly managed, software complexity, cluster growth, scalability, and system heterogeneity can introduce project delays and reduce the overall productivity of an organization. At the same time, cloud computing models as well as the processing of Hadoop workloads are emerging challenges that can stifle business agility if not properly implemented.

insideHPC Guide to Successful HPC Clusters

insideHPC Guide to Successful HPC Clusters

A successful HPC cluster requires administrators to provision, manage, and monitor an array of hardware and software components. Currently, there are many trends in HPC clustering that include software complexity, cluster growth and scalability, system heterogeneity, Cloud computing, as well as the introduction of Hadoop services. Without a cogent strategy to address these issues, system managers and administrators can expect less-than-ideal performance and utilization. There are many component tools and best practices to be found throughout the industry.

To help our audience build and manage successful HPC Clusters the editors of insideHPC have created this weekly article series called “the Five Essential Strategies for Successful HPC Clusters.” Over the next several weeks we’ll be releasing articles on:

This article series will also provide background and recommendations for many of the current trends in HPC clustering including:

  1. How to Manage HPC Cluster Software Complexity
  2. Recommendation to Managing Cluster Growth
  3. Plan to Manage Heterogeneous Hardware/Software Solutions
  4. Preparing for  HPC Cloud
  5. Managing a Hadoop cluster

Today, cluster-based HPC has evolved into a mature market segment with many more hardware and software choices than in the past. The expanded decision space puts further pressure on organizations to “get it right” when staging any type of HPC resource. In order to help managers, administrators, and users deploy and operate successful HPC clusters, this weekly article series presents the essential strategies to help navigate today’s challenging HPC environment. If you prefer you can download the entire insideHPC Guide to Successful HPC Clusters, courtesy of Bright Computing, by visiting the insideHPC White Paper Library.