The Big Red Cluster

Hardware Configuration

Cluster Nodes

Compute (512, JS21 Bladeserver):

  • 2 x 2.5 GHz dual-core PowerPC 970MP processors
  • 8 GB 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 73 GB SAS disk (67GB in /scratch)
  • 1 x Myricom M3S-PCIXD-2-I (Lanai XP)

User (4, JS21 Bladeserver):

  • 2 x 2.5 GHz dual-core PowerPC 970MP processors
  • 8 GB 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 73 GB SAS disk (67GB in /scratch)
  • 1 x Myricom M3S-PCIXD-2-I (Lanai XP)

Storage (16, pSeries 505):

  • 2 x 1.65 GHz dual-core Power5+ processor
  • 8 GB 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  • 73 GB SAS disk
  • 2 x Emulex LP10000 PCI-X/133MHz FC adapters

Networking

Two 256-port Myricom M3-CLOS-ENCL switches, providing a 2+2Gb/s low-latency interconnect for the 512 compute nodes.

Storage

The disk for Big Red's 266TB GPFS volume is hosted on 10 DataDirect Networks S2A 9500 storage controllers, each dual-pathed to 5 SAF 4248 Chassis. Physical disks are aggregated in an 8+1+1 RAID configuration; combined with the dual-pathed controllers, and active/active GPFS storage hosts, multiple levels of redundancy are provided for Big Red's storage space.

Home directories are available via NFSv3 over Gigabit Ethernet.