Cluster hardware: comments,recommendations, and criticisms

[Steve Gaudet]

Hello Denby,

> I'm helping put together a rack-mounted cluster (around 30 nodes) and
> came up with the following hardware.  This is largely for
> compute-bound scientific applications.  I'd appreciate your comments,
> recommendations, and criticism on it.  Higher bandwidth/lower latency
> interconnect is not economically feasible at the moment.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Denby
>
>
> =====================================================================
> Switches:
> =========
>
> Cisco 3548 XL (stackable)
>       48 port 10/100 RJ-45; 2 GBIC based Gig ports
	^^^^^  *** good switch ****

Competitive Products are:

3Com: SuperStack 3 Switch 3300, 3900, and 9300
HP: ProCurve 2524, 2424M, 4000, 8000  (also a very good switch)
Nortel: BayStack 450T Switches

> Main node:
> ============
>
> Dual AMD AthlonMP 1.2GHz cpu's (2)
> Tyan Tiger Motherboard (s2420)
>
> 2 Heatsinks and fans: Tai-Sol CGK742092
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ we use Thermaltake Volcano 6cu,
7,000rpm

> 2 Sticks of 512 MB ECC PC2100 DDR RAM (1 GB reg) Promise
              ^^^^^^ make sure its a x64 chip, from either Samsung or Nanya,
only vendors qualified.

> Linksys 400W Power Supply (POW-400-EL)

Zippy makes a 435w

> Adaptec SCSI card - 19160 ultra160 scsi card
> Seagate 36.7 GB SCSI harddrive ST336705LW
>
> ATI Radeon 64MB SDRAM AGP video card
> Sony 1.44 Floppy
> Acer 56X cdrom CD656A
> 2 3com 3c905c 10/100Mb ethernet card
> Viewsonic E95 19inch 18VIS .26MM
>
>
> Compute nodes:
> ==============
>
> 2 AMD AthlonMP 1.2 GHz CPU
> 1 Tyan Tiger mainboard (s2420)
> 2 Heatsinks and fans: Tai-Sol CGK742092
> 2 512 MB Stick of ECC DDR PC2100 RAM (1GB reg) Promise
> 1 Seagate 20GB 7200 rpm UDMA 100 harddrive (ST320414A)
> 1 utility video card (pci)
> 1 Sony 1.44 Floppy
> 1 3com 3c905c 10/100Mb ethernet card
>
>
> 1 2U chassis: Rackmountpro     RM2U2066-P300W
>    - includes 3 chassis fans and 3 slot PCI riser card
>    - includes 300W power supply, fan monitor

I believe the power supply is inadequate. After looking at Rackmountpro's
web site noticed they have a dual Tyan offering and also use a Zippy
P2U6435P-AMD PS.  Does Rackmountpro support a 300w on a dual AMD?

Might want to take a look at Ci-Design RS2100 with a Zippy P2U6435P-AMD PS
its been qualified for the Tyan dual AMD offerings.  Another chassis
offering is from AIC, again designed specifically for the Tyan dual AMD.

** Might want to add in an additional chassis cooling fan.  This resides in
a open PCI slot and will pull the air warm through the back of the case
reducing internal heat. **

Cheers,

  Steve Gaudet
   .....
  <(©¿©)>

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