Implementing the Lustre File System with Sun Storage: High Performance Storage for High Performance Computing 
by Sean Cochrane
June, 2008
Much of the focus of high performance computing (HPC) has centered on CPU performance. However, as computing requirements grow, HPC clusters are demanding higher rates of aggregate data throughput. Today's clusters feature larger numbers of nodes with increased compute speeds. The higher clock rates and operations per clock cycle create increased demand for local data on each node. In addition, InfiniBand and other high-speed, low-latency interconnects increase the data throughput available to each node.
Traditional shared file systems such as NFS have not been able to scale to meet this growing demand for data throughput on HPC clusters. Scalable cluster file systems that can provide parallel data access to hundreds of nodes and petabytes of storage are needed to provide the high data throughput required by large HPC applications, including manufacturing, electronic design, and research.
This paper describes an implementation of the Sun Lustre file system as a scalable storage cluster using Sun Fire servers, high-speed/low-latency InfiniBand interconnects, and additional networking and storage devices. Furthermore, this paper explores the use of the Sun Lustre file system at a shared government and education research site, including configuration information and details on testing that was performed on-site to evaluate the performance of Sun's scalable storage solution.
- High Performance Storage for High Performance Computing
- Target Environments
- The Lustre File System
- Lustre File System Design
- Implementing the Lustre File System with Sun Fire Servers
- Design Considerations
- Hardware Components
- Software Components
- Preparing the Sun Fire X4500 Server for Lustre File System Installation
- Sun Fire X4500 Server Device Names
- Installing Red Hat Linux Using Sun N1 System Manager
- Preparation for Lustre File System Installation
- Proof Point of the Scalable Storage Cluster
- Performance Evaluation
- Assessment with IOzone
- Data Mover Performance Tests
- Conclusions
- The Sun Customer Ready Program
- About the Author
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Related Resources
- Ordering Sun Documents
- Accessing Sun Documentation Online
Sean Cochrane is a Senior Engineer and Storage Architect in the CTO office of Global Storage Practice at Sun Microsystems. In 1997, Sean joined Sun from the University of Utah, where he helped to establish the state wide network for education. Sean holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and has over twenty years of experience in the computer industry.
The author would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their contributions to this paper:
- Syuuchii Iihara, Lawrence McIntosh, Michael Berg, and Deepak Jeevan Kumar at Sun for their work in implementing Lustre technology on-site, and also for the procedures in the section "Preparing the Sun Fire X4500 Server for Lustre File System Installation"
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