3.5 CSM hardware requirements

< Day Day Up >

Now that we have a basic understanding of CSM and its capabilities, let us look at the hardware that is required to use CSM in a cluster. The IBM Cluster 1350 includes support for CSM, and CSM is shipped as part of the offering. If you are not using the IBM Cluster 1350, then you need to verify that you have all of the necessary hardware described in this section.

For this redbook, we concentrate our effort on the IBM Cluster 1350 only. See Chapter 2, "New Linux cluster offering from IBM: Cluster 1350" on page 21 for more information about the IBM Cluster 1350 offering.

3.5.1 Minimum hardware requirements

As the IBM Cluster 1350 is a customizable platform, it is useful to know the minimum requirements to run CSM.

Management server

This server is used to manage the cluster. To install CSM, this machine needs at least 128 MB of memory and 1.5 GB of storage for the full CSM installation.

This server supports the MRV In-Reach Terminal Server or the Equinox Serial Provider equipment.

Managed nodes

The managed nodes need at least 128 MB of memory and 20 MB of disk space to run CSM.

Depending on the cluster configuration, these nodes may also support a Myrinet adapter.

Network requirements

CSM requires the TCP/IP protocol and at least one Ethernet adapter.

At the management server, it is highly recommended that eth0 be used for the cluster VLAN, and another Ethernet card used for the management VLAN.

If the management server is also providing the user node capability (the machine that receives user connections and requests), then a third card should be added (on a different subnet) with appropriate access rules to secure the cluster.

Attention:

You should pay attention to securing the management server, because it could directly act on all cluster nodes, and a security hole could be dangerous for data and cluster integrity.

Remote control hardware requirements

CSM uses remote control hardware during the installation process to reboot the nodes and to retrieve their MAC addresses. Without this hardware, the installation is still possible, but not in an automatic way. It would be much more complicated because each node's MAC address would have to be inserted in the cluster database individually.

CSM also provides the ability to develop special scripts to manage specific hardware, like the American Power Conversion (APC) Master Switch, which can be use to manage non-validated components.

The CSM rconsole command uses, by default, an MRV In-Reach (8000 Series) 20 or 40 port Terminal Server or an 8 or 16 port Equinox Serial Provider to communicate between the management server and the cluster nodes.

Limitations

At the time of the writing of this book, CSM is limited to a cluster of up to 512 nodes. This limitation will likely change to higher numbers of nodes in future releases.

< Day Day Up >