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Bright Cluster Manager Tool Evaluation

Overview

Node provisioning, updating, monitoring and security are some of the technical challenges in cluster management. As clusters continue to grow in size, managing clusters has become complex. Cluster management tools provide for a collection of components to assist with the administration of the cluster. This is crucial to the availability of the computing environment for users.

Challenge

The DICE (Data Intensive Computing Environment) team was tasked with investigating the ease of use and the benefits that cluster management tools can offer cluster administrators. The task of this evaluation was to test the product features of Bright Cluster Manager, a product by Bright Computing, and focus on the installation, configuration and cluster management functionality.

Objective

The DICE team evaluated the Bright Cluster Manager tool against Bright Computing’s published product specifications. This evaluation included testing of functionality as documented, performance as documented and installation and configuration. Performance and functionality testing was conducted using a DICE-generated methodology for evaluating cluster management utilities.

Results

The results of the initial evaluation show that the Bright Cluster Manager is indeed a valuable tool for managing compute clusters in the enterprise. Out of the box, a small 16-node cluster was up and running in three to four hours. To be able to do all configuration from a centralized point of management as well as through a very easy-to-use GUI interface was a very valuable feature. Primarily, the interface was very intuitive, but as with all software, there are aspects that could be improved upon. All of these aspects are included in an evaluation report to help HPC professionals understand the full potential of this product.

Ultimate Value

Cluster administrators need the assistance of management tools as clusters continue to grow in size. The Bright Cluster Manger has proven to be a tool that effectively simplifies the installation, management and use of HPC clusters. This functionality will allow HPC professionals to successfully manage clusters and ultimately promote an available computing environment for its users.

 

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