Nuredduna Computer Cluster

Local Cluster Hardware

Local Cluster Hardware

iDataPlex rack

• Flexible and modular system. Front cabling and front access keeps service and maintenance costs down.

• Green computing: Reduced depth and rational wiring layout allows for efficient cooling.

• Uses less space. Each rack admits up to 84 1U dual processor nodes plus space for switches.

• Uses less power, up to 40% less energy than usual racks.

  

• The IBM iDataPlex has two power distribution units (PDU), each one of them can provide electricity up to 16 dual-node chassis. PDUs can balance efficiently the load between the three electrical phases.

Nodes (Computational units)

• 48 top rated for both performance and energy efficiency dx360M4 nodes.

• Each dx360M4 has two state-of-the-art Intel Xeon E5-2630 processors with Sandy Bridge Efficient Performance architecture. The E5-2630 has 6 cores running at a nominal frequency of 2.3 GHz (turbo 2.8GHz) and 4 memory channels for high bandwidth (10600 MB/s per channel). Sandy Bridge cores support AVX instructions for a maximum of 8 double precision floating operations per clock cycle leading to a theoretical maxima of 269 Gflops per node at turbo frequency. Actual linpack tests show an effective performace of 223 Gflops per node.

• dx360M4 nodes are fit with low consumption DDR3L-10600 with Error Correcting Code (ECC) which ensures data integrity by using an additional parity bit for each byte to detect and correct eventual single-bit errors. 36 of the nodes has 32 GB of memory while the other 12 have 64 GB.

  



• Two nodes share a single chassis with a highly efficient 80Plus Platinum 900W power supply.

• Nodes are diskless

Connectivity

• Computational units are connected through two dedicated Gigabit Ethernet lans, one for management and operative system and the other for communications with the home servers.

• Switches are connected among them through the IFISC Vlan on the campus network.

• Nodes are connected through two dedicated Gigabit Ethernet networks using three 50-port SMC8150L2 Switches. One Gbit network is used exclusively for data input/output (user’s home directories are mounted through this network). The second Gbit network carries management and other ethernet traffic.