24 April 2008, Warwick, UK
Only weeks after the opening of a brand new computing centre facility at Begbroke, Oxford, UK Supercomputing Centre (OSC), part of the Oxford e-Research Centre, have been able to bring a new 1024 core Cluster facility in service for HPC users at the University funded by the SRIF3 procurement program. The University provided an extensive benchmark program for potential vendors which formed the basis of an acceptance program after delivery and Streamline Computing – one of the Leading UK HPC Integrators, were able to demonstrate the full capability of the facility very quickly after delivery, installation and commissioning and bring the system into early service for University users.
The Cluster is unique in demonstrating how “best of breed” technology from different vendors can be combined in a single manageable HPC environment. Using technology developed by Streamline’s parent – Concurrent Thinking Ltd, the cluster combines Intel based PE1950 servers from Dell in one half of the cluster with Opteron Based x2200 servers from Sun in the other. The systems execute a standard O/S image provisioned by a Shared management facility via the Streamline Cluster Management Appliance with a shared Lustre Filesystem and providing applications with fast access to data. Each of the 512 core clusters has a low latency Infinipath interconnect from Qlogic giving the lowest possible latency for large scale parallel compute jobs in a cost effective Solution. These clusters and other future HPC facilities at the OSC will utilise PBSpro scheduler to manage user jobs from many diverse user groups.
The Storage is designed around a separate 10Gbit Ethernet network to ensure the maximum performance and quality of service. This network combines Nortel Stacking switches and Myrinet 10Gbit Fibre interface technology.
Dr John Taylor – CTO of Streamline said “The System has been designed to allow simple support and upgrade through Appliance technology so that the University can truly take advantage of commodity computing prices whilst the Concurrent Appliances and CMA ease the complex tasks of running a growing HPC facility, ensuring minimal impact on OSC resources. We are honoured to work closely with OSC and look forward to further enhance the efficiency of this and future systems and give Oxford University an HPC facility which the quality of its world leading research deserves.
Dr Jon Lockley – head of the OSC facility said “We have many years experience of working with Streamline and when they offered this flexible but very competitive solution through our tender process we were happy to continue and strengthen this relationship. Our users have many different research problems to solve and the characteristics of the Intel and AMD technologies each excel in different types of solution. We have also had good service from both Sun and Dell in the past and this multi-vendor purchase allows Oxford to benefit from the support of trusted hardware vendors.”
Dr Stef Salvini of OSC worked closely with the Streamline technical team to ensure that the cluster facility met all of the technical criteria offered in the SRIF tender process and said: ”We knew Streamline had a strong technical team which when combined with the skill level at OSC, we were jointly able to confirm that this substantial cluster met all of its design criteria and bring into user service”.
Users at the University range through the spectrum from Astrophysicists with a new OERC project to Social Sciences. Molecular dynamics users with Gromacs, Siesta and Promax are joined by quantum chemists with ADF and NAMD and engineers with local CFD applications and Structural Engineers with Abacus also use the system. A recent new group of Oceanographers are closely working with OSC staff to optimise their codes and further benefit from the HPC clusters.
