Clustercorp Intros Rocks+Hybrid to Simplify Dual-Boot Clusters

Clustercorp announced the availability of Rocks+Hybrid, a combination of the commercial version of the Rocks Cluster Distribution for Linux and Microsoft (News - Alert) Windows HPC Server 2008.

 

Known as home of Rocks+, Clustercorp adds a vastly expanded software layer and enterprise-class support to the leading open source cluster distribution to create a production-ready cluster operating environment.

 

Rocks+Hybrid is designed to simplify the deployment of dual-boot HPC systems that run Linux and Windows natively in a single cluster, company officials said.

 

Mixed, dual-boot clusters can improve cluster efficiency. Because dual-boot clusters flexibly serve both Linux and Windows users, they increase utilization rates by expanding the number of addressable users.

 

Traditionally, installation and management of dual-boot clusters involved a lot of time and efforts because the boot-servers were to be installed and configured by hand. As a result, the minimum setup time for these systems could take at least a week or longer to complete.

 

As the demand for dual-boot hybrid systems grew, there has been a strong demand for a robust cluster platform that is easy to deploy, manage and operate.

 

With the new offering, the Rocks community now gets a simpler and more automated way to implement powerful clustering capabilities using Windows HPC Server 2008, while also receiving the familiar ease-of-use and cost efficiency benefits of Windows, Vince Mendillo, senior director, High Performance Computing Marketing at Microsoft, said.

 

In a hybrid environment, the Rocks+ head node provides the same services as in a homogeneous Rocks+ environment. The Rocks+ standard node discovery process is largely unchanged, except that when a hybrid node is discovered, the system is automatically configured for the dual-boot nature of the hybrid nodes.

 

The new nodes will install both Linux and Windows operating systems onto the local drive without user intervention and return to running Rocks+ at the end of the install process - ready to run end-user applications in either operating system.

 

Rocks+ also enables continued management and maintenance of hybrid clusters with Windows HPC Server. By using an end-to-end Linux-Windows deployment scheme, Rocks+ enables a change to the stack any time so that the nodes are set in a known good state. This allows for simple maintenance, upgrades, and even push-button replacements of failed nodes.

 

“Clustercorp is thrilled to add Rocks+Hybrid to our line of Rocks+ products,” Tim McIntire, president and co-founder of Clustercorp, said. “It was extremely important for Clustercorp to retain the design foundations of Rocks in this solution - Rocks+ has always been known for making clusters easy to manage and maintain - hybrid cluster users can now experience this first-hand.”

 

According to Philip Papadopoulos, head of the Rocks project at the University of California, San Diego, interoperability with the leading Linux cluster distribution helps Microsoft broaden their reach and bring simple cluster solutions to a new audience.