Cluster Resources, maker of the Moab Cluster Suite, announced yesterday [PDF] from Dresden that their new HPC software stack is soon to enter an open beta.
Escalante leverages SUSE Linux Enterprise Server’s pattern deployment capability to apply the needed software to the cluster’s central management node (a.k.a. head node), then upon restart a Moab cluster deployment wizard queries the user about the number of compute nodes in the cluster, how many nodes there will be per rack and the IP address. While additional configuration and flexibility is available in an advanced section, the above questions are all that are needed by Escalante for a default cluster deployment. At this point, the wizard automates the software configuration and all that remains is for the
installer to power on the compute nodes in a logical order.
Cluster Resources is also aiming at some of the low-hanging HPC pain points that small organizations feel when moving up from PCs
From a usability perspective, this product also provides the technologies that make it mainstream-ready. Escalante incorporates Moab Cluster Suite®, which includes an easy-to-use Web-based job submission portal, a graphical Windows-like administration interface and professional reporting capabilities. The professional reporting provides managers with the capacity planning charts as well as resource usage and sharing reports that keep them on top of what is really happening with their investment and what service levels are being provided to their users, projects and associated groups.
Shout out to reader Chris Vaughan for the oh-dark-thirty pointer to this news. If you’re interested in taking part in the beta, there are details in the release.
[…] Not to be outdone in the “we’re making clusters easier to build” department, Intel has announced its own cluster deployment initiative. The Intel approach appears less end-user centric than Cluster Resources’ recently announced Escalante product. Intel Cluster Ready is a program and technology that helps simplify the deployment, usage and management of clustered computer systems by providing a standardized and replicable way to build clusters and run “off-the-shelf” high-performance applications. The program includes a specification that sets minimum standards for software and hardware components. This enables software developers to validate just one time across many hardware platforms, speeding development and time-to-market readiness. […]