Intel Cluster Ready Allowed Hardware Variances

Transcription

1 Intel Cluster Ready Allowed Hardware Variances Solution designs are certified as Intel Cluster Ready with an exact bill of materials for the hardware and the software stack. When instances of the certified solution are marketed, sold and deployed, the software stack of the certified solution design must remain constant. Variances in the hardware are allowed, however, to accommodate a wide range of solutions that meet the varying needs of customers application workloads. This allows deployments of copies of the certified design that are feature equivalent but may have different performance characteristics. The following information is provided as rules to determine what hardware variances are allowed when deploying Intel Cluster Ready certified solutions. Verification with Intel Cluster Checker must succeed for all deployments All deployments must pass verification checks with Intel Cluster Checker regardless of the hardware variance. Certification of a cluster design results in a set of input files for the tool that are used to verify that individual deployments of a design are equivalent copies of the original solution. Changes in the hardware components may affect system performance or features that are verified by the Intel Cluster Checker at deployment time. The input file or files must be modified to reflect the differences in hardware configuration or performance that result in a subsequent successful execution run of the tool. It is not acceptable to make hardware changes that result in failing to pass verification. The solution design was certified with Quad-core Intel Xeon processors. Allowed - the deployed solution uses six-core Intel Xeon processors. The input configuration file for Intel Cluster Checker is modified to reflect the new core count, any appropriate configurations for the processor change, and any performance thresholds that are affected by the change. The resulting deployment verification with Intel Cluster Checker passes all checks.

2 Not allowed - the deployed solution uses six-core Intel Xeon processors, but the input configuration file is not modified to reflect the new processor configuration and resulting deployment checks fail. Software must be included in the existing installation All software that enables variant hardware shall be included in the base kernel or distribution of the certified solution design. In other words, a change in hardware must not require additional software packages beyond the software stack of the certified design. To ensure the system interface to the application layer remains compliant with the specification, the addition of software packages, including drivers, will require a re-certification of the design. The certified solution design used single SATA devices for local storage on each server node. Allowed - the deployed solution contains multiple SAS devices in a RAID configuration on each server but no additional drivers or software are required outside of the existing software stack documented in the original certification. Any RAID configuration is performed outside of the software stack installation, and the resulting storage volume meets the storage requirements called out in the Intel Cluster Ready Specification. Not allowed - the deployed solution contains multiple SAS devices in a RAID configuration on each server, and the change requires the insertion on additional drivers during the installation of the software stack that were not included as part of the original certification. Hardware features must maintain specification compliance Hardware variances must maintain feature compliance to the specification. Not all hardware features are verifiable by Intel Cluster Checker. Any variances of hardware are only allowed if the base requirements are still present in the deployed system. Examples: The deployed solution uses a different server baseboard that has the same processor and chipset but different hardware features as the certified solution.

3 Allowed - the deployed server baseboard provides 12 DIMM slots for system memory where the baseboard in the original certification provided 18 DIMM slots. All specification requirements are still met by the baseboard. Not allowed - the change to the deployed server baseboard does not provide the ability for remote console in any fashion. In general, the change is not allowed if the new baseboard removes any hardware feature required in the specification. Cluster deployments must meet node count rules Scale-out 2N rule Cluster designs are certified at a specific node count (where N is the number of nodes). Deployments of that certified design are covered up to twice that number of compute nodes (2N). Deploying a system beyond 2N nodes introduces much higher risk of scalability issues that are not detected at lower node counts. For deployments up to 64 nodes, there must be an existing recipe certified at the appropriate node count. For instance, to sell a 16 node cluster, the certification of the solution must have been on at least 8 nodes. At higher node counts starting above 64 nodes, prior certifications may not be feasible until deployment time. Vendors may bid for contracts or advertise certified solutions beyond 2N nodes with the understanding that a system must pass certification checks at deployment time. The vendor does assume some level of risk of scalability arising at higher node counts. All deployments must pass verification checks with Intel Cluster Checker regardless of the node count. Minimum cluster deployment size A cluster design must be certified on a solution that contains at least four nodes. However, a certified solution is allowed to be deployed as a two or three node cluster with the condition that there are at least two compute nodes. The head node in a two node cluster deployment must also act as a compute node. The head node in a three node cluster deployment may but is not required to act as a compute node.

4 The original design was certified with 32 compute nodes. Allowed - any cluster deployment of the certified design from 2 up to 64 nodes that passes verification checks before delivery of the system to the customer. Not allowed - cluster deployments of 65 nodes or more that will not have full certification checks run at the time of deployment. Variance of add-in hardware devices must be transparent to the software stack Swapping similar hardware devices A common variance will be replacing an add-in hardware device used in the certified design with a similar device in the deployed solution. Changes of this nature may involve swapping different models of a component from the same vendor or swapping one vendor s component with a similar component from another vendor. This variance is allowed as long as the change does not affect software installation or remove functionality required by the specification. If the change impacts the configuration and/or performance of the system that is verified by Intel Cluster Checker, the input file must be modified to reflect the change. The certified solution used 12GB of 1600MHz memory from vendor A in each server node. Allowed - the deployed solution contains 24GB of 1067MHz memory from vendor B in each server node. The Intel Cluster Checker input file is modified to reflect the new memory configuration and performance thresholds. Resulting verification checks pass. Not allowed - the deployed solution contains 3GB of 1600MHz memory from vendor A in each server node, but the amount of memory per physical core drops below the required amount called for in the specification. Regardless of passing verification, this change is in violation of the specification and is not allowed. Omitting devices used in the original certification A single certified solution design can cover deployments that remove hardware components that were part of the certification but are not required by the specification. This type of change is allowed as long as

5 all base requirements of the specification remain satisfied by the deployed solution, the software stack is unaffected, and the resulting deployment passes verification checks. The certified design contained a DDR InfiniBand* messaging fabric. Allowed - the deployed solution contains Ethernet only and does not include the InfiniBand adapter cards and associated network appliances and infrastructure. The Intel Cluster Checker input configuration file is modified to remove checks related to verifying functionality of the InfiniBand fabric (the Ethernet fabric checking is still performed), and the resulting verification passes. Not allowed - the deployed solution contains Ethernet only and does not include the InfiniBand adapter cards and associated network appliances and infrastructure. The Intel Cluster Checker input configuration file is not modified. Verification fails because the InfiniBand fabric is missing but the checks are still in place. Inclusion of hardware devices not part of the certified design A less common change may be the inclusion of a hardware device that was not part of the original certification. This change is only allowed if the new device is fully supported by the existing software stack of the certified design. The variance between the certified and deployed solution must be transparent in terms of function and any change in configuration or performance that is verified by Intel Cluster Checker must be reflected in the verification checks of the deployed solution. The certified design contains two on-board gigabit Ethernet devices. Allowed - the deployed solution adds a dual port gigabit Ethernet adapter card. The adapter is fully supported by drivers contained in the certified software stack. Not allowed - the deployed solution adds a 10 gigabit Ethernet adapter card that requires insertion of additional drivers into the software stack. Contact cluster@intel.com with specific questions regarding hardware variances that are allowed without requiring a new certification.

6 Legal Notices THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY WARRANTY OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF ANY PROPOSAL, SPECIFICATION OR SAMPLE. Intel disclaims all liability, including liability for infringement of any proprietary rights, relating to use of information in this specification. No license, express or implied, by estoppels or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted herein. Except that a license is hereby granted to copy and reproduce this specification document for internal use only. This document is subject to change, as described in the Intel Cluster Ready Program Agreement. Intel, Intel Xeon, and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Copyright 2010, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.