HP XC System 2.x Software - Manual (Page 19)

1
Overview of the User Environment
The HP XC system is a collection of computer nodes, networks, storage, and software built into
a cluster that work together to present a single system. It is designed to maximize workload
and I/O performance, and provide efficient management of large, complex, and dynamic
workloads. The HP XC system provides a set of integrated and supported user features, tools,
and components which are described in this chapter.
This chapter briefly describes the components of the HP XC environment. The following
topics are covered in this chapter:
• System architecture (Section 1.1)
• User environment (Section 1.2)
• Application development environment (Section 1.3)
• Run-time environment (Section 1.4)
• Supported tools, compilers, libraries (Section 1.5)
1.1 System Architecture
The HP XC architecture is designed as a clustered system with single system traits. From a
user perspective, this architecture achieves a single system view, providing capabilities such as
single user login, a single file system namespace, an integrated view of system resources, an
integrated program development environment, and an integrated job submission environment.
1.1.1 Operating System
The HP XC system is a high-performance compute cluster that runs HP XC Linux for High
Performance Computing Version 1.0 (HPC Linux) as its software base. Any applications that
run correctly using Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server Version 3.0 will also run
correctly using HPC Linux.
1.1.2 Node Specialization
The HP XC system is implemented as a sea-of-nodes. Each node in the system contains the
same software image on its local disk. There are two physical types of nodes in the system
— a head node and client nodes.
head node The node that is installed with the HP XC system software first — it
is used to generate other HP XC (client) nodes. The head node is
generally of interest only to the administrator of the HP XC system.
client nodes All the other the nodes that make up the system. They are replicated
from the head node and are usually given one or more specialized
roles to perform various system functions, such as logging into the
system or running jobs.
The HP XC system allows for the specialization of client nodes to enable efficient and flexible
distribution of the workload. Nodes can be assigned one or more specialized roles that
determine how a particular node is used and what system services it provides. Of the many
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