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Note: Order must be $5,000 or larger to not pay "overhead". Therefore, buy parts, especially small ones, together. (And a single purchase is better than multiple, $5,000+ purchases.)
Decisions made
Compute nodes
NOTE: Must finalize quantity (and final, final specs) after all other decisions are made and priced.
4/14/14. Czarek: It looks like the slowest cpu E5-2620v2 2.1GHz has the best price performance ratio but anyway I would not buy the slowest cpu. Right now in Gdansk we are buying 10 servers and we decided to go for 10-core cpus E5-2670v2 2.5Ghz (20 cores per node). As in matrix in Gdansk we have only slow interconnect between nodes and some programs can run efficiently only on single node so more cores per node gives for such program advantage. Other programs both in Gdansk and on matrix just need the highest possible total performance and exchange very little data between nodes so than number of cores is not important. What about space restriction ? Is it better to buy smaller number of faster nodes ?
Information ChemIT needs to keep track up, for reference
Decision 1: Storage of users' data
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- Size decision
- 1U is cheapest, and fine if don't need to hold lots of drives.
- 2U is more expensive, but can hold more drives.
Decisions made
Compute nodes
NOTE: Must finalize quantity (and final, final specs) after all other decisions are made and priced.
4/14/14. Czarek: It looks like the slowest cpu E5-2620v2 2.1GHz has the best price performance ratio but anyway I would not buy the slowest cpu. Right now in Gdansk we are buying 10 servers and we decided to go for 10-core cpus E5-2670v2 2.5Ghz (20 cores per node). As in matrix in Gdansk we have only slow interconnect between nodes and some programs can run efficiently only on single node so more cores per node gives for such program advantage. Other programs both in Gdansk and on matrix just need the highest possible total performance and exchange very little data between nodes so than number of cores is not important. What about space restriction ? Is it better to buy smaller number of faster nodes ?
Other expenses (under $2,700)
NOTE: Not awaiting major decision, only slight shifts in costs as other decisions are made. We welcome questions or concerns, of course.
Networking (~$1,500)
- 1 switch (Cisco SG300-52; ~$750)
- Network cabling (price dependent on above decisions. Expect well under $1K)
Power (~$700)
- UPS (APC SMC1500-2U; $500; for head node only)
- 2-3 PDUs (power distribution units; a.k.a. power strips; $100 each)
- Qty depends on above decisions (amperage calculations)
Rack (~$500)
- $500
Considerations for upgrade (info-gathering phase)
- Buying or adding to a cluster(with Matrix-specific notes)
Other notes
Refer to the "Scheraga - Cluster Backup Choices" page, created following the Fall 2013 Matrix failure.
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Implementation decisions (for after purchase decisions!)
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Where is "temp" (not backed up) data located?
Who gets "root" access?
Considerations for upgrade (info-gathering phase)
- Buying or adding to a cluster (with Matrix-specific notes)
Other notes
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