[torqueusers] Cluster Resources Newsletter - October 2004

[torqueusers at supercluster.org]

Cluster Resources Newsletter - October 2004
Optimizing your Compute Resources
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www.ClusterResources.com
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NEWS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

1.MAUI BOF AT SUPERCOMPUTING 2004
2.SOLUTION FOCUS: CONSOLIDATING MANAGEMENT FOR CLUSTERS AND LOCAL AREA 
GRIDS
3.NEW VERSIONS OF MOAB:
a. MOAB WORKLOAD MANAGER 4.2.0
b. MOAB CLUSTER MANAGER AND MONITOR 1.2.0
c. MOAB ACCESS PORTAL 1.2.0
4.MAUI 3.2.6 (PATCH 10)
5.MAUI 3.X.X: ENCRYPTION AND REQUEST FOR FEATURES
6.FREE EVALUATION SOFTWARE NOW AVAILABLE
7.DID YOU KNOW: JOB AGGREGATION TIME

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MAUI BOF (BIRDS OF A FEATHER) MEETING TO BE HELD AT SUPERCOMPUTING 2004

A BOF will be held in room 324 on November 9th at the Supercomputing event 
in Pittsburgh.  Come see the latest capabilities and roadmap for the next 
year.  If you have not yet decided on participating in Supercomputing 
2004, be sure to visit http://www.sc-conference.org/sc2004/ for more 
information.

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SOLUTION FOCUS: CONSOLIDATING MANAGEMENT FOR CLUSTERS AND LOCAL AREA GRIDS

A common problem faced by administrators of numerous clusters is managing 
across different compute, storage, network, license and other resource 
managers.  Management of such environments is usually reduced to the 
lowest common characteristic across all clusters.  Inability to 
effectively enforce business policies across multiple clusters and 
unfamiliarity with different tools makes bringing smaller clusters 
together extremely difficult.

Single-point of management by Moab Cluster Suite solves this by enabling 
global, cluster and user based rules and usage policies to be effectively 
automated across all clusters simultaneously.  Utilization is improved as 
each job is better matched with appropriate resources.  Intelligent 
workload processing also allows jobs to be processed faster across a 
broader range of resources to accomplish a wider range of jobs.  This ease 
of management removes difficulties previously encountered when expanding a 
grid or cluster.

Another complication faced by management is accurate reporting of usage by 
individual users and groups.  With an intuitive and visually easy way to 
submit, manage, and monitor all jobs in the environment, administrators 
using Moab Cluster Suite can effectively measure performance, efficiency 
and usage to ensure delivery of desired service levels and that usage 
objectives are met.

The Moab solution focuses on empowering both administrators and end-users 
with greater flexibility and control to improve utilization through 
numerous capabilities including

--Enables single-point management with 'multi-resource manager' mode
--Flexible policy-based management enforces both grid-wide and local 
cluster policies
--Flexible event engine enforces policies and acts on data
--An intelligent scheduling engine can leverage local and global policies 
and detailed resource data to match workload with the optimal set of 
resources.

To learn more about consolidating management for clusters and grids see 
the Moab Workload Manager Administration Guide at 
http://www.clusterresources.com/products/mwm/docs/moabadmin.shtml.

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NEW VERSION RELEASE: MOAB WORKLOAD MANAGER 4.2.0

Release Date: Available

Moab Workload Manager 4.2.0 includes a scheduler, resource and event 
policy engines and local area grid support.  Utility based computing, 
scalability, reliability, high availability and interoperability functions 
are further enhanced in this latest version of Moab clustering software.

Moab Workload Manager 4.2.0 now offers support for multiple heterogeneous 
resource managers.  By interfacing with more than one resource manager, 
administrators can contain errors or failures and easily partition the 
cluster without changing the single-point of entrance to the system. 
Interface support for Ganglia has been added so that relevant node status 
information can be used by Moab in scheduling, policy decisions and 
reporting. Personal Reservations have been fine tuned to give 
administrators more control and users greater flexibility.  Bug fixes, 
memory enhancements, profiling optimizations, improved check-pointing and 
statistics tracking are also now available.

Licensed customers can download version 4.2.0 and those using Maui 
Scheduler can request an evaluation at 
http://www.clusterresources.com/products/mwm.


NEW VERSION RELEASE: MOAB CLUSTER MANAGER 1.2.0

Release Date: October

The latest version of administration tools for clusters--Moab Cluster 
Manager 1.2.0 includes extensive charting and reporting capabilities, 
plug-ins, increased connectivity and provides co-allocation.

Administrators can see reservations and jobs on an easy-to-read calendar 
sorted according to nodes as well as instantly see when resources are 
available on individual nodes.  The Visual Cluster has also been improved 
to give administrators the ability to visually examine the whole 
environment based upon a wide variety of attributes such as memory usage, 
architecture, node features, historical cluster usage, swap space, 
partitions and over 60 other attributes.  With the click of a button any 
of the attributes can be easily viewed.

Other enhancements include system and statistical snapshots to allow 
off-line analysis, comparison of one time period to another, or one 
cluster to another.  The generation of reports and graphs from the command 
line is made easy with automated reporting.  Support for custom plug-ins 
and a new connection manager to switch between clusters and snapshots in 
real-time has also been added to this latest release.

Licensed customers can download version 1.2.0 and those using Maui 
Scheduler can request an evaluation at 
http://www.clusterresources.com/products/mcm.


NEW VERSION RELEASE: MOAB ACCESS PORTAL 1.2.0

Release Date: October

With numerous extra features, enhancements and capabilities Moab Access 
Portal 1.2.0, with its web-based workload management, gives end-users more 
power and flexibility than before.

Wizard-like tools enable users to create and manage personal reservations, 
giving them more control over valuable resources. A new visual cluster 
feature allows users to instantly see their permissions, status, load, 
type and other attributes of their alloted nodes.  A credential summary 
helps users keep track of credentials, the attributes they have, and the 
amount of consumable usage credits still available for tracked resources. 
Other reports show user statistics and even a cluster workload time-line. 
The time-line allows users to instantly see estimated start times for jobs 
of various sizes and duration before submission.  Job submission is now 
easier and more convenient.  Users can write custom scripts at submission 
time or securely browse the cluster's file system and select files for 
execution and/or input all from the convenience of a browser.  Users can 
also view historical jobs and manage their jobs with suspend, cancel, 
check point and other push button commands.  These features are all 
incorporated into a new, easy to use, graphical user interface.

For a free online demonstration or for more information on Moab Access 
Portal 1.2.0 visit http://www.clusterresources.com/products/map.

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MAUI 3.2.6 (PATCH 10)

The latest update of Maui adds further Scalable Systems Software 
compatibility.  The Scalable Systems Software (SSS) Initiative was created 
by the Department of Energy to provide more effective management and 
utilization of terascale computational resources.  SSS is a cooperative 
effort to provide open source solutions that work for both small and 
large-scale systems in today's computing world.  The SSS Center is a hub 
of integrated systems and software tools—the first step towards creating 
a standard interface between system software components.  By complying 
with SSS specification 3.0.3 and previous standards, Cluster Resources is 
providing a strong future of compatibility with other scalable open source 
projects.

For more information on SSS and the SSS Center visit 
http://www.scidac.org/ScalableSystems.  To download patch 10 or to 
register for the latest updates visit 
http://www.clusterresources.com/products and click on download under Maui 
Cluster Scheduler.

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MAUI 3.X.X: ENCRYPTION AND REQUEST FOR FEATURES

Cluster Resources is currently developing a release of Maui Cluster 
Schedduler that includes encryption support.  If you have suggestions or 
requests for other features in future releases of Maui Scheduler please 
e-mail us at info at clusterresources.com.

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EVALUATION SOFTWARE NOW AVAILABLE

To see what Moab products can do for your cluster, try out our evaluation 
software.

The evaluation software for Moab Workload Manager is a fully functional 
product you can temporarily run in a test cluster, production cluster, or 
even alongside a current production cluster.   In an observation mode 
known as “test mode” administrators and managers can fully interact 
with their cluster using Moab Workload Manager without disturbing the 
existing system.  Current builds for Linux (both 32 and 64 bit) and Mac 
exist and additional versions are available upon request.

With the Moab Cluster Manager evaluation software you can sample workload 
files, create charts and  graphs, adjust settings and view management 
screens without the trouble of having to do system configurations 
manually.

As mentioned in our previous newsletter, Moab Access Portal can be 
experienced live with our on-line interactive demo at 
http://www.clusterresources.com:8080/MAP.  Using our intuitive graphical 
interface, you can log in as a user and interact with our demo cluster.

To request your free evaluation software or for more information e-mail us 
at info at clusterresources.com or call us at +1 (801) 873-3400.

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DID YOU KNOW: JOB AGGREGATION TIME

Moab Workload Manager decreases total job scheduling cycles by aggregating 
job submissions.  The Job Aggregation Time parameter informs the scheduler 
to wait a designated amount of time after receiving a job event before 
processing.  By grouping jobs together at submission, the scheduler can 
make more intelligent resource allocation choices and minimize response 
time by choosing between jobs and optimizing placements accordingly.
For more information on Job Aggregation Time see the Moab Workload Manager 
Administration Manuel at 
http://www.clusterresources.com/products/mwm/docs/a.ilargeclusters
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Contact Us:
Product Feedback, Technical Support, Consulting and Custom Development 
queries can be sent to info at clusterresources.com or call us at +1 (801) 
873-3400

© Cluster Resources, Inc.  Moab Workload ManagerTM, Moab Cluster 
ManagerTM, and Moab Access PortalTM are trademarks or registered 
trademarks of Cluster Resources, Inc.TM