The process of planning and creating a cluster is a complex set of sophisticated exchanges between price, performance, and reliability. These exchanges, coupled with knowledge of the software stack options and performance goals, combine to achieve the perfect balance in system architecture.
Creating a cost effective high performance cluster that fits your needs requires more than just an in-depth knowledge about computer hardware; it requires industry-specific experience. Aspen Systems has that expertise to give you the best cluster architecture in the industry. We specialize in building HPC clusters and storage solutions. While many of the basic considerations are identical, each type presents specific challenges and areas where more attention should be given.
Aspen Systems provides several different levels of cluster architecture services, depending on your cluster size and type. The process begins the very first time you call us. Your sales engineer will follow a standardized flow process to ensure that we collect and understand your specific requirements.
At Aspen Systems, we believe that we’re building a solution together. This means that any additional information we can discuss will only help you define the most reliable and cost effective long term solution. We need your input to truly understand your requirements and situation. To ensure that your future experience is as trouble-free as possible, we go the extra distance to examine your long term requirements.
This is a step that many vendors do not take, which we at Aspen Systems feel is an essential part of the creation process. Your sales engineer will be thinking of ease of maintenance, total cost of ownership, and the best price performance ratio for your needs.
Your new HPC cluster or server needs to live somewhere. Many vendors choose not to discuss the housing and location of your system before processing your order. That’s because they assume this responsibility is solely yours. We think otherwise. In the first part of our process, we help you plan your system starting from the beginning. Your system has unique needs that need to be met. Understanding the housing facility’s mechanical, electrical and methodology of cooling, will ensure the seamless integration of your system.
In the next stage of the process we help you build the components of your system for maximizing the performance based on your allocated budget. Here we’re faced with hundreds of potential hardware components (and just as many software choices) and each component has its own cost and performance specs. The complex jigsaw of interlocking each piece, with the end goal of unlocking the absolute optimum performance/value architecture, is the greatest challenge of the entire process.
We help you create a system for the future. In this step of the process our team will help you strategize and pre-plan your system’s expansion, so when your operation grows your system can scale with you. Exploring and discussing your future plans early on gives us many options for allocating and investing your system growth resources correctly in the beginning. So when the time is right, the process of upgrading and expanding becomes a seamless one.
We professionally help you manage your system for the long-term. Your system will grow in time. During this period you will be faced with maintenance and management challenges, patches, updates and upgrades. A cluster software upgrade is essentially an entire software rebuild of your cluster environment. We partner closely with our clients to understand their unique system challenges. Cluster architecture is a complex set of sophisticated exchanges between price, performance, and reliability. In this part of our process we combine this valuable intelligence with our historical data and experiences, then integrate this into your system.
At the heart of your system you will find the software stack. Aspen Systems allows you to define the software stack using our online Statement of Work (SOW) form to better understand your requirements. This online form covers everything from operating systems to applications to compilers and more. Once this is complete, an engineer will review to ensure compatibility. This process helps to ensure quick delivery of a system that is configured to fully meet your specific needs.
The final stage of our expert process is the actual delivery of your system. At this point of the process, no problematic obstacles should stand in our way. This is why we strive to cover every single detail, from the kind of receiving facility, to the door heights, flooring types, height of elevators, door widths, exit signs and any single small or big thing that can potentially become a hurdle for final completion.
The most common plug/receptacle types you will encounter in North America are:
CoolingTo figure out which size unit is best for your cooling needs: