IBM Books

Planning Volume 2, Control Workstation and Software Environment

Contents

  • Figures

  • Tables

  • About this book
  • Who should use this book
  • Typographic conventions
  • Software level notation

    • Part 1. Planning your system

  • Chapter 1. Introduction to system planning
  • Planning services
  • Hardware overview
  • Processor nodes
  • Frames
  • Switches
  • Extension nodes
  • Control workstation
  • Network connectivity and I/O adapters
  • SP Expansion I/O Unit
  • Software overview
  • AIX
  • PSSP
  • What's new in AIX and PSSP?
  • |What's new in AIX 5L 5.1?
  • What's new in AIX 4.3.3?
  • |What's new in PSSP 3.4?
  • SP planning issues
  • Using SP books for planning

  • Chapter 2. Defining the system that fits your needs
  • |Question 1: Do you need a system for parallel computing with a switch?
  • |Considering parallel computing
  • |Choosing a switch
  • Question 2: Do you want a preloaded SP or the default version?
  • Standard default order service
  • SP customizing services
  • What you get as a package
  • Contacting the Customized Solution Organization
  • Listing your applications
  • Question 3: Which related IBM licensed programs do you need?
  • Parallel Environment
  • Parallel Engineering and Scientific Subroutine Library
  • High Availability Cluster Multi-Processing
  • LoadLeveler
  • General Parallel File System
  • Selecting IBM licensed programs
  • Question 4: Which levels of AIX do you need?
  • Considering AIX and PSSP in another language
  • Considering new features
  • Considering migration and coexistence
  • Recording your decision for question 4
  • Question 5: What type of network connectivity do you need?
  • Questions to consider
  • Considering the SP Switch router
  • Question 6: What are your disk storage requirements?
  • Disk space for user home directories
  • Disk space for system programs
  • Disk space for databases
  • Disk requirements for the Virtual Shared Disk component of PSSP
  • File system requirements
  • Boot-install requirements
  • Multiple boot requirements
  • Mirrored root volume group requirements
  • External disk storage
  • Completing the external disk storage worksheet
  • Question 7: What are your reliability and availability requirements?
  • High Availability Control Workstation
  • SP system partitions
  • Question 8: Which and how many nodes do you need?
  • Considering processor nodes
  • |Considering extension nodes
  • Considering SP frames
  • Completing the system hardware components worksheet
  • Completing the node layout worksheets
  • Completing the hardware configuration worksheet
  • Completing network configuration worksheets
  • Question 9: Defining your system images
  • Specifying more than one system image
  • Question 10: What do you need for your control workstation?
  • Software requirements for control workstations
  • Hardware requirements for control workstations
  • |Hardware controller interface planning
  • Completing the control workstation worksheets

  • Chapter 3. Defining the configuration that fits your needs
  • Planning your site environment
  • Using the Site Environment Worksheet
  • Understanding network install image choices
  • Understanding time service choices - Network Time Protocol (NTP)
  • Understanding user directory mounting choices - AIX Automounter
  • Understanding user account management choices
  • Understanding system file management choices - file collections
  • Understanding accounting choices
  • Understanding lppsource directory name choices
  • |Understanding remote command choices
  • Determining install space requirements
  • Estimating requirements for lppsource
  • Estimating the node installation image requirements
  • Other installp image requirements
  • Combining the space requirements
  • Planning your system network
  • System topology considerations
  • Boot-Install server requirements
  • Single frame systems
  • Multiple frame systems
  • Future expansion considerations and large scale configuration
  • Location and reference rate of customer data
  • Home directory server planning
  • Authentication servers
  • Understanding node hard disk choices
  • Planning your network configuration
  • Name, address, and network integration planning
  • Understanding the SP networks
  • Considering network router nodes
  • Considering the SP Switch Router
  • Considering a clustered enterprise server configuration
  • Considering an SP-attached server
  • Choosing a valid port on the SP Switch
  • Understanding placement and numbering
  • Slot numbers
  • Frame numbers and switch numbers
  • Node numbering
  • Node placement with the SP Switch
  • |Node placement with the SP Switch2
  • Switch port numbering
  • IP address assignment

  • Chapter 4. Planning for a high availability control workstation
  • Overall system view of an HACWS configuration
  • Benefits of a high availability control workstation
  • Difference between fault tolerance and high availability
  • Fault tolerance
  • High availability
  • IBM's approach to high availability for control workstations
  • Eliminating the control workstation as a single point of failure
  • Consequences of a high availability control workstation failure
  • System stability with HACWS
  • Related options and limitations for control workstations
  • Uninterruptable power supply
  • Power independence
  • Single control workstation with disk mirroring
  • Spare Ethernet adapters
  • Frame supervisor changes
  • Limits and restrictions
  • Completing planning worksheets for HACWS
  • Software requirements for HACWS configurations
  • Required components
  • Planning your HACWS network configuration

  • Chapter 5. Planning for Virtual Shared Disks
  • Planning for IBM Virtual Shared Disk and Recoverable Virtual Shared Disk Optional Components of PSSP
  • Planning for Virtual Shared Disk Communications

  • Chapter 6. Planning for security
  • Choosing authentication options
  • |Considering restricted root access
  • |Considering a secure remote command process
  • |Considering choosing none for AIX remote command authorization
  • Recording your authentication options
  • Understanding which security services software to acquire
  • Protecting your authentication database
  • Planning for DCE authentication
  • Deciding in which cell to configure DCE authentication
  • Considering to exclude network interfaces from DCE Remote Procedure Call binding
  • Planning location of DCE servers
  • Establishing authorization to install and configure DCE
  • Preparing to configure SP trusted services to use DCE
  • Deciding on granularity of access to the SDR
  • Deciding on granularity of access to SP monitor objects
  • Planning use of AIX remote commands
  • Planning for Kerberos V4
  • Establishing authorization to install and administer Kerberos V4
  • Deciding on Kerberos V4 authentication configuration
  • Selecting the Kerberos V4 authentication options to install
  • Creating the Kerberos V4 configuration files
  • Deciding on authentication realms
  • Planning for standard AIX authentication
  • Checklists for authentication planning
  • Using DCE security services
  • Using Kerberos V4 authentication servers
  • Using AFS authentication
  • Authentication worksheets

  • Chapter 7. Planning SP system partitions
  • What is system partitioning?
  • How do you partition the system?
  • The default system partition
  • Benefits of system partitions
  • Security across system partitions
  • Example 1 - The basic 16-node system
  • Using an SP switch in a partition
  • The physical makeup of a switch board
  • Systems with a low cost switch
  • Switchless systems
  • Example 2 - A switchless system
  • The System Partitioning Aid
  • Accessing data across system partitions
  • The relationship of SP resources to system partitions
  • Single point of control with system partitions
  • The SDR in a partitioned system
  • Networking considerations
  • Running multiple levels of software within a partition
  • Overview of rules affecting resources and system partitions
  • System partitioning for systems with multiple node types
  • Example 3 - An SP with 3 frames, 2 SP Switches, and various node sizes
  • System partitioning configuration directory structure

  • Chapter 8. Planning to record and diagnose system problems
  • Configuring the AIX error log
  • Configuring the BSD syslog
  • The control workstation
  • SP nodes
  • PSSP system logs
  • Finding and using error messages
  • Getting help from IBM
  • Finding service information
  • Calling IBM for help
  • Sending problem data to IBM
  • Opening a Problem Management Record (PMR)
  • IBM tools for problem resolution
  • |Inventory Scout
  • Service Director for RS/6000
  • NetView for AIX
  • EMEA Service Planning applications

  • Chapter 9. Planning for PSSP-related licensed programs
  • Planning for Parallel Environment
  • Planning for Parallel ESSL
  • Planning for High Availability Cluster Multi-Processing (HACMP)
  • Planning for LoadLeveler
  • Compatibility
  • Planning for a highly available LoadLeveler cluster
  • Planning your LoadLeveler configuration
  • Planning for General Parallel File System (GPFS)

    • Part 2. Customizing your system

  • Chapter 10. Planning for expanding or modifying your system
  • Questions to answer before expanding/modifying/ordering your system
  • How large do I want my system to grow?
  • How do I reduce system down time?
  • What must I understand before adding switches?
  • What network topology topics do I need to consider?
  • What control workstation topics do I need to consider?
  • What system partitioning topics should I consider?
  • What expansion frame topics should I consider?
  • What boot-install server topics should I consider?
  • Scenario 1: Expanding the sample SP Switch system by adding a node
  • Scenario 2: Expanding the sample SP Switch system by adding a frame
  • Frame expansion possibilities
  • General concerns for adding a frame
  • Scenario 3: Expanding the sample SP Switch system by adding a switch
  • The switch scenario

  • Chapter 11. Planning for migration
  • Developing your migration goals
  • Planning base software requirements
  • Planning how many nodes to migrate
  • Planning migration stages
  • Developing your migration strategy
  • Using system partitions for migration
  • Using coexistence for migration
  • Migration and coexistence limitations
  • IP performance tuning
  • Root volume group mirroring
  • Boot-install servers and other resources
  • |Changes in recent levels of PSSP
  • HACWS migration strategy
  • AIX and PSSP migration options
  • Reviewing your migration steps

    • Part 3. Appendixes

  • Appendix A. The System Partitioning Aid - A brief tutorial
  • The GUI - spsyspar
  • Tool bar actions
  • The CLI - sysparaid
  • Example 3 of Chapter 5
  • The CLI
  • Other files and data

  • Appendix B. System Partitioning
  • 8 Switch Port System
  • Layout for 4_4 Partition of 8 Switch Port System with an SP Switch-8
  • Layout for 8 Partition of 8 Switch Port System with an SP Switch-8
  • 16 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 8_8 Partition of 16 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 4_4_8 Partition of 16 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 4_12 Partition of 16 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 4_4_4_4 Partition of 16 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 16 Partition of 16 Switch Port System
  • 32 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 8_24 Partition of 32 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 4_28 Partition of 32 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 16_16 Partition of 32 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 32 Partition of 32 Switch Port System
  • 48 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 16_32 Partition of 48 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 48 Partition of 48 Switch Port System
  • 64 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 16_48 Partition of 64 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 32_32 Partition of 64 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 64 Partition of 64 Switch Port System
  • 80 Switch Port System With 0 Intermediate Switch Boards
  • Layouts for 16_64 Partition
  • Layouts for 32_48 Partition
  • Layouts for 80 Partition
  • 80 Switch Port System With Intermediate Switch Boards
  • Layouts for 16_16_48 Partition
  • Layouts for 16_64 Partition
  • Layouts for 80 Partition
  • 96 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 32_64 Partition
  • Layouts for 16_32_48 Partition
  • Layouts for 16_80 Partition
  • Layouts for 96 Partition
  • 112 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 48_64 Partition
  • Layouts for 16_48_48 Partition
  • Layouts for 16_96 Partition
  • Layouts for 112 Partition
  • 128 Switch Port System
  • Layouts for 16_48_64 Partition
  • Layouts for 16_112 Partition
  • Layouts for 64_64 Partition
  • Layouts for 128 Partition

  • Appendix C. SP system planning worksheets

  • Notices
  • Trademarks
  • Publicly available software

  • Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

  • Bibliography
  • Information formats
  • Finding documentation on the World Wide Web
  • Accessing PSSP documentation online
  • Manual pages for public code
  • RS/6000 SP planning publications
  • RS/6000 SP hardware publications
  • RS/6000 SP Switch Router publications
  • |Related hardware publications
  • RS/6000 SP software publications
  • |AIX publications
  • DCE publications
  • Redbooks
  • Non-IBM publications

  • Index

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