What is Rocks Cluster?
In this tutorial we are going to learn about Rocks Cluster.
In this tutorial we are going to learn about Rocks Cluster.Learning Rocks Cluster - What is Rocks Cluster?
Rocks Cluster Distribution is a Linux distribution which was originally released with the name NPACI Rocks, is designed for high-performance computing (HPC) clusters using Linux based distributed nodes. This project was started by National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) in 2000 and the last released of this Linux distribution is 2017 release.
This project was initially funded in part by an NSF grant (2000-07), but later on it was funded by the follow-up NSF grant through 2011.
The Rocks Cluster was initially developed using Red Hat Linux (RHL) distribution. As of now the modern version of Rocks is based on the CentOS Linux distribution and it comes with the modified Anaconda installer, which further simplifies the installation process. Rocks Cluster is powerful Linux distribution for creating high-performance clusters and it includes many tools (such as Message Passing Interface (MPI)).
To summarize, Rocks Cluster is an open source software to easily setup large
scale clusters. Let your computers, servers and internet devices start doing
more things together, and the sooner you get the Rocks 5 nodes installed, the
sooner you can enjoy the benefits of Rocks 5.
The latest version of Rocks Cluster is Rocks 7.0 Manzanita (CentOS 7.4) which is
based on CentOS 7.4 distribution and it was released on 1st December 2017.
You can use the Rocks Cluster to build a bare-bones compute cluster:
- Boot your frontend with the kernel roll
- Then choose the following rolls: base, core, kernel, CentOS and Updates-CentOS
The Rocks Cluster can also be used for building a more complex cluster. You can also select the following rolls while building your complex cluster:
- area51
- fingerprint
- ganglia
- kvm (used for virtualization)
- hpc
- htcondor (used independently or in conjunction with sge)
- perl
- pythonsge
- zfs-linux (used to build reliable storage systems)
Rocks Cluster can also be used for building custom cluster.
What is Rocks Cluster Linux?
Rocks Cluster Linux is a highly portable Linux distribution. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and it was designed with an eye towards user compatibility. It has been designed in order to provide an open and accessible environment to anyone wanting to create their own Linux server for their business.
The following features were implemented to further support a user-friendly environment for users with a wide range of skills.
Feature Linux (32 & 64-bit) OS Name Rocks Clustery Linux Software Version 4.6.5-2 (Debian 7) (64-bit) Rockstar 5.3-X Rockstar Clustery Linux 5.3 (Debian 7) 64-bit Rocks Cluster Linux v2 Rockstar Clustery Linux v2 (Debian 7) (64-bit)
Here are a few more of the features included on the Rocks Cluster Linux release!
Multipool
It is possible to create a multipool to run multiple Linux distributions on a given disk. When one Linux distribution is set up as the base disk on a disk and all others added as the next disks, a single instance will have multiple Linux distributions on it.
Here is an example based on a Dell x7520 RAID 4 disk.
Multi-OS:
$ rockcluster create --type multios --pool rockc --username rockeradmin --password rocker
Or a single Linux distribution with multi-OS:
$ rockcluster create --type multios --pool rockc --username rockeradmin
--password rocker --pool rock
User
Here you will find a place to store the user credentials used to manage your computer. Once a login is completed, all the other servers in the cluster will automatically begin using the user account. Your computer will also be created with the username rockeradmin.
A password will be generated with this information. The password is stored in the user's ~/.rocks/config file.
Linux Cluster
The rockcluster Linux software is a complete solution that includes a fully featured graphical interface, integrated support for user-defined network shares, server provisioning, and much more. For example: running a RAID configuration through the Rocks Cluster Linux Server.
Please refer to the following sections for further information regarding installation, configuration and troubleshooting:
Installation
To install Rocks Linux on a system, you will need to download and install the appropriate OS package. Depending on the Linux package you will install, you will either need to edit the file /etc/rc.conf to change the boot method depending on the OS you wish to install on the system or use the following commands to run the commands:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Learn Rocks Cluster:
