Dell NFS High Performance Computing Storage Solution (NSS)

Dell NFS High Performance Computing Storage Solution (NSS)

Red Hat Summit

2 Enterprise Marketing

Agenda• The realities of High Performance Computing storage

• Dell’s approach to high performance computing

• Why choose Dell?

• Introducing the Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution (NSS)

• Summary & next steps


The realities of High Performance Computing storage


The real truth about High Performance Computing storage

HPC storage is about 15-25%

of total system cost — AND

about 90% of problems.1

• There are no industry-standard file

systems/solutions that satisfy the

range of HPC storage

requirements

• Mismatch between access

frequency requirements and

underlying storage platform

—A large percentage of data

is never touched 2-4

weeks after it is created


The need for future-ready HPC storage solutions is

NOW

Increased demands and complexity require faster and better

results for research organizations

• Reaching breakthroughs faster to build and sustain competitive advantages

• Getting the right results in the right place at the right time at the right cost

• Solving the accelerated data avalanche

• Growing flexibility and scalability to keep up with demand

IDC’s estimate for the annual growth of the world’s data in the next decade

3% Gartner’s projected global 2014 IT spend increase

Gap

•490%


Why choose a Network File System (NFS)?

321

At the very minimum for /home and applications

Compute nodes in an HPC environment almost always require a common file system for applications and tools.

Workgroup HPCHome directories, application code, input data, cluster work space

No need for high-speed scratch file system for most application profiles

For small to medium systems NFS can also serve as primary file system for jobs.

Even for large systems, NFS can serve user /home data and applications.

No need for performance – just reliability and ease of use/management

Departmental HPCApplication code home directories, input data, cluster working space (depends upon application profile)

Larger Scale HPCApplication code, home directories, input data

Enterprise Marketing

Major pain points around high performance storageAre these topics in your organization?

I/O bottlenecks

= longer time to insight

HPC is moving further into the enterprise

It’s hard to work with multiple vendors to acquire, deploy & support a storage solution

It’s tough to scale capacity and performance

Not enough technical info on performance, sizing and configuration best practices

High fidelity simulations or modeling require more data and high throughput

No single solution meets the needs for different type of users and how they use storage


Dell’s approach to high performance computing

Make HPC

available to all

who need it• Empowering

productivity• Maximizing

efficiency • Collaboration

Our mission is to take

every HPC job

seriously, regardless

of scale, size or

budget.

Dell’s approach to high performance computing

Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE)

Bio-ScienceGenetics & Medical

Research

University/Academic

Weather

Digital Content Creation (DCC) & Distribution

Chemical Engineering

Economics / Financial

Mechanical Design & Drafting

Defense

Government Lab

Solve real-world HPC challenges


Dell delivers the whole end-to-end solution

Simplifying solutionsMake it simpler to select, deploy, and manage clusters

Solve real-world HPC challenges

Dell delivers HPC solutions with the right fit and balance to solve customer-specific challenges at any scale

Collaboration with expertsCollaborate with Dell’s global HPC experts to solve real-world problems

Partner intelligentlyChoose the best blend of leading HPC technology and services that fit your requirements


Introducing Future-Ready HPC Solutions

Expanding the boundaries of HPC

technology

Delivering High Performance Computing solutions from workstations to large clusters

Workstations

Cloud

Servers

Network

Storage

Software

Big Data Cluster

Mobile Devices

SharedStorag

e

Servers

Network

Storage

Software

“Classic” HPC Cluster

Remote Visualization

Choose your HPC solution with confidence.

Dell provides a highly flexible framework of HPC technology, services and expertise to solve customer-specific challenges at any scale.


Dell solutions forHPC storage

Open, affordable, capable

• Dell enterprise hardware along with open source software

• Industry leading performance and density

Solutions designed for the customer• Storage appliances that

integrate into the larger HPC ecosystem

• Growing flexibility and scalability to keep up with demand

Better together• Integrated and optimized

solutions that are engineered to work better together

3%

Gap

What if needs are greater?

Dell | Terascala HPC Storage Solution (HSS)• Scalable, pre-configured, pre-

loaded and certified by Dell and Terascala

• High performance Lustre filesystem

• Multiple GB/s of aggregate read/write performance

Primary to ScratchNFS Storage Solution (NSS)• Single source for solution design, delivery &

support• Standard configurations ranging from 30 TB to

576 TB useable space• Performance tuned NFS filesystem providing

reliable shared storage

Metadata Pair

OSS Pair 1

User data 1

OSS Pair 2

User Data 2

Dell | Terascala HPC Storage

Solution (HSS)

Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution

(NSS)


Why choose Dell?


Dell’s development approach

= HPC solutions with the right fit and balance.

CollaborativeReach breakthroughs faster with expert guidance and community-based collaboration.

FlexibleSolve HPC challenges at any scale with Dell’s robust, flexible engagement model and customer-focused approach.

Simplifying SolutionsMake it simpler to select, deploy, and manage clusters through a highly flexible framework of scalable HPC technology and services.

Deliver robust, reliable and scalable solutions that solve customer problems while removing complexity and providing choice…

Compute

Storage

Software

Network

Installation services

Support services

Consu

ltati

on

Train

ing

Your Cluster


Efficient and

optimized deployme

nt

Deployment and Remote Management Services

Remote HPC Cluster ManagementDeployment Services

• Expert project manager

• Single point of contact

• Evaluate and design

• Install, rack-mount, cable and connect

• Orientation and documentation

• Priority response for alerts or requests

• Cluster application support

• Documentation and knowledge transfer

• Quarterly performance reporting

Design & optimize

Install & deploy

Integrate &

test

Configure &test

Single point of contact

Flexible tools & systems

Single-source

solutions provider

Dedicated account teams

Proactive monitoring

and management

Optimize infrastructure, improve stability & enable productivity with flexible deployment services


EXPAND TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES to scale with your business by

relying on expert deployment team

Design• End to end Project

Managers• Evaluate and review

environment and requirements

• Design based on best practices

• Document entire solution

Simple + Flexible + Capable

Deployment Services for HPC

OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE with flexible deployment

services personalized for your organization

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY and up and running faster with our proven processes

Configure

& Deliver• Rack hardware and

cable management

• Install and tune software stack

• Validate components and solution

Integrate• OS installation

• Software configuration

• Validation testing

• Benchmarks

• HPL (Linpack) or Custom benchmarks

Orientation• Onsite knowledge

transfer• Complete Solution

Documentation• Topology diagram• Custom cables &

labels• Hostnames & IP

Addresses• BIOS Settings• Room & rack layouts• Power information


Engaging our CustomersDedicated to helping you select the right HPC technology.

ValidateTogether, we'll test your Dell solution against current business objectives and future scalability needs.

InnovateWith Dell, you have the power to deploy with confidence.

CollaborateOur solutions experts employ industry use cases to help you explore your Dell solution in state-of-the-art labs.


Introducing the Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution


Dell | Terascala HPC Storage

Solution

Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution

HPC StorageSolutions

HPC StorageIntroducing end-to-end Deploy fast, integrated and

efficient storage infrastructure with minimal IT expertise or support in days

or weeks, not months.Solutions

• Simplify deployment of fast, reliable HPC storage

• Reclaim valuable research time

• Accelerate your throughput speed and capacity

• Experience world class support and expertise


Support services

Consu

ltati

on

Train

ing

Compute

Storage

Software

Network

HPC StorageSolutions

HPC ComputeSolutions

HPC WorkloadSolutions


Dell HPC NFSIntroducing the

Speed up your HPC workload productivity at any scale with a complete NFS storage solution engineered for hassle-free performance and reliability.

Turnkey NFS platform built on proven Dell products takes the guesswork out of NFS configurations• High data throughput• Flexible choices for the right

fit and balance• Rock-steady reliability• Efficient, hassle-free

performance

StorageSolution


Support services

Consu

ltati

on

Train

ing

Compute

Storage

Software

Network


Benefits of the Dell HPC NFS SolutionTake the guesswork out of sizing and optimization to maximize performance

Best possible performanceNo need to experiment

In-depth guidance

Based on development and testing in Dell labs, we provide: • Detailed performance and sizing

characterization • Tuning and configuration best

practices

0

500000

1000000

1500000

tunednot tuned

Clients

Thro

ughput

KB

/s

Accelerate your throughput speed and

capacity

NSS 5.5 IPoIB Performance Data (Read/Write) The peak read performance is up to 5.48 GB/sec, which has more than 20%

improvement as compared to the peak number of NSS5.0-HA.

The peak write performance is up to 2.25 GB/sec, which gains more than 50% improvement as compared to the peak number of NSS5.0-HA.

NSS 5.0 Performance Data (Metadata)

NSS 5.5 Building blocks

• Single NFS Gateway– PERC H810 RAID card(s) in NFS gateway

› PowerVault MD1200 (2U/12drive) JBOD’s connected to RAID card(s)

– RAID 6 or RAID 6 + LVM 2.0.2

• Two Active-Passive NFS Gateways– PowerVault MD3460 (2U/12drive or 4U/60drive) RBOD– PowerVault MD1200 (2U/12drive) and MD3260e

(4U/60drive) JBOD– RAID 6 + LVM 2.0.2

NSS NSS-HA

• NFS Gateway– PowerEdge Server (R620)

– 128GB (16x8GB DIMMs@1866 MHz)– Dual Intel Xeon E5-2695v2, 2.4 GHz, 12C

– RAID-1 for OS (plus 1 hot-spare)– RAID-0 for additional swap space– Cold spares (disks)– IB, 10GigE options (GigE management standard)– iDRAC Express or Enterprise

• RHEL 6.5 OS w/ NFS v3 (v4 optional)• Red Hat Scalable File system (XFS)• Red Hat Cluster Suite (for HA)• 3 years of support on OS, file system, hardware• Dell ProSupport

Common Aspects

Hardware(NFS gateway)

Software andSupport

NFS Storage SolutionNSS-HA 5.5


Two PowerEdge R620s configured in active/stand-by serving a single file system• HA requires the ability to shut-down a misbehaving server

– Private network for heartbeat and control (including power control)– Plug power into controllable PDU’s– Enterprise iDRAC is the primary fencing device used to control misbehaving server– APC PDU is the secondary fencing device

• HA software shuts down or reboot the faulty server

PowerVault MD3060e

PowerVault MD3260

Dell R620 Active Server

Dell 620 Standby Server

Private GigE Switch(PowerConnect 5524)

APC PDUAPC PDU

2

2

GigEPower Cords

IB or 10GigE

SAS (6Gbps)

1

1

IB/10GigE IB/10GigE

NSS-High Availability (NSS-HA) Architecture

Summary & next steps


Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution summary

Speed up HPC workload productivity at any scale with a complete NFS storage solution engineered for hassle-free performance and reliability.• Reliable, cost-effective primary storage in a

turnkey solution• Simplified, modular approach for scalability

and choice of configurations• Dell-developed best practices to configure

and tune the storage system for best performance and reliability– Dell-developed configurations and

tuning best practices deliver 30% throughput performance improvement compared to non-optimized NFS

• Built using industry standard components and proven Dell hardware

More information at www.dell.com/hpc

http://www.dell.com/hpc


Take the next step

Learn more Find information

Take a Test Drive

Join the conversationSchedule time

with a Dell HPC Solutions Domain Specialist

Visit us online at• Dell.com/hpc

• DellHPCsolutions.com

The Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution is now available for testing in the Dell Solution Center.

• HPCatDell.com

• Dell XL computing center consortium (www.dellxl.org/)

• Twitter @HPCatDell


Enabling customer discovery & product innovation

"The Dell team was very hands-on, working side-by-side with us to help us understand all the moving parts and make sure that we had the right configuration. To go from nothing to a full cluster in two weeks was amazing.”—Warren Santner, Information Systems Architect, The George Washington University

What our customers say…

EMD International's "WindPRO" customers receive results in 30 minutes

30minutes

End-user Experience

HPC Expertise

Flexible EngagementModel

Solution Innovation “Dell gave us a hands-on demonstration so we could test

our own performance benchmarks. I was pleasantly surprised by the proactive, accurate information I received from the Dell consultant and moreover if he didn’t know the answer to a question, he quickly found it for me.”—Bertrand Ferret, Head of IT Department, Mercator Ocean

“To perform a precise calculation in reasonable time, a CFD solution needs the support of a HPC cluster. Previously, users were inclined to limit the fine resolution in the terrain because if they tried to run a more complex calculation on a PC, it could take a week. But with the Dell HPC cluster supporting WAsP-CFD, we can provide the calculations in half an hour.” —Thorkild Guldager Sørensen, Senior Software Engineer and High Performance Computing (HPC) Administrator, EMD International

2weeks

George Washington University goes from ZERO to full cluster in two weeks

40%

Yields 40% reduction in IT admin time for HPC cluster

University of Pisa's medical research has benefitted as large-scale storage needs are met and IT admin is reduced by 40%.—University of Pisa

6xincrease

Mercator Ocean increases its oceanic & forecasting center capacity by sixfold

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corporate~case-studies~en/Documents~2013-gwu-10012812.pdf

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corporate~case-studies~en/Documents~2012-mercator-10010175.pdf

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corporate~case-studies~en/Documents~2013-emd-intl-10012121.pdf

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/videos~en/Documents~2013-univ-pisa-10012510.aspx

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/videos~en/Documents~2013-univ-pisa-10012510.aspx

Thank you.

Customer stories


University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences

Research challenges:

Storage capacity and network throughput limitations created bottlenecks in supporting research computations and meeting research publication deadlines.Key benefits:• Four-fold increase in capacity

for running HPC jobs• 33% improvement in data

processing time• 10-fold greater network

throughput for storage• Able to complete more research

projects involving larger data sets

The University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences is a Research One facility, with 27 academic departments and a faculty of nearly 500 world-renowned scholars• Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution

(NSS)• Dell ProSupport with Mission

Critical four hour onsite service

Customer: University of Pennsylvania

Completing more research projects involving larger data

sets

Academic Research

“Our researchers will be able to look at more data in more ways, run more jobs, do wider and more refined searches, and find what they’re looking for in the data more quickly using the Dell HPC NSS. Everything will have a quicker turnaround time.”

Gavin Burris, Senior Systems Programmer, Information Security and UNIX Systems, University of Pennsylvania, School of Arts & Sciences


George Washington University

Research challenges:George Washington University (GW) required new technology to meet demands for high-performance computingKey benefits:• HPC solution powers research

and delivers results faster• Researchers can better pursue

innovative projects • Attracts & retains top scholars • Centralized cluster saves

resources and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration

Across the university, from the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences to the School of Medicine, there is a need for high performance computing, data storage, and network capacity for moving large volumes of research data.• Dell HPC NFS Storage Solution

(NSS)• Dell | Terascala HPC Storage

Solution (HSS)

Customer: GW University

Powering new research, recruiting top faculty

Academic Research

“The Dell team was very hands-on, working side-by-side with us to help us understand all the moving parts and make sure thatwe had the right configuration. To go from nothing to a full cluster in two weeks wasamazing.”

Warren Santner, InformationSystems Architect, The GeorgeWashington University

Read the full case study >

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corporate~case-studies~en/documents~2013-gwu-10012812.pdf

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corporate~case-studies~en/documents~2013-gwu-10012812.pdf

University of Florida

“One of its first major tasks was to find adverse effects from 140,ooo drugs on 2,800 different types of people. If researchers had taken the individual time and manpower to do the study themselves, it would have taken 69 years. HiPerGator completed the entire task with results in 50 hours.”1

Erik Deumens, Director of Research Computing

Industry challenges:• Data life-cycle management-

handling large volumes of data and ensuring adherence to regulations

• Balancing performance and cost

Key benefits:

• Reduce time to insight from days to hours.

• Better positions UF to compete for funding.

HiPerGator was launched in May 2013 as part of a new 25,000-square-foot data center • Used by 500 researchers across

160 teams• Storage: Dell | Terascala HPC

Storage Solution 4.5 — 2.88 PB• Compute: 256 PowerEdge

C6145 nodes with 16,384 cores• Peak speed of 150 trillion

calculations per second

Customer: University of Florida

HiPerGator Helps UF Nab $8 million in federal funding

Dell NFS High Performance Computing Storage Solution (NSS)

Technology

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