High Performance Computing Post: 302278831

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Special Forums UNIX and Linux Applications High Performance Computing High Performance Computing Post 302278831 by otheus on Wednesday 21st of January 2009 09:22:27 AM

01-21-2009

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So this problem used to be rather "simple". Just use some CPU metric (MPIS, FLOPS, SPECint, SPECfloat, whatever) and divide it by the cost of a computer. Then we had a clear choice: 2 CPUs per "1U" system. Now the choice has expanded to cores per chip and we have 2, 4, and even 8-way systems (AMD). You could build a rack of Sunx6400, each containing 64 cores. But we also shouldn't forget Sun's T1 processor line, with 128 "virtual" cores.

Further complicating the issue: cost is no longer just for the compute node. Now you have to consider the networking costs between them. 100 Mbit Ethernet switches are cheap, but may not be suitable for a cluster of very fast machines. Infiniband gives you great performance, but scaling is very expensive -- just the cabling alone can cost as much as your CPUs!

Further complications: the operating costs of cooling and electricity are not insignificant. For every watt used by the CPU, you can count on needing 2 watts to cool it (depends on the climate you're in). Thus, if every computer node requires 1.5 A, and you have 256 compute nodes, you will need 1.5 * 256 * 3 = 1152 Amps of power and maybe 2 30-ton chillers.

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pmdazimbra

PMDAZIMBRA(1)						       Performance Co-Pilot						     PMDAZIMBRA(1)

NAME

       pmdazimbra - Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) PMDA

DESCRIPTION

       pmdazimbra is a Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) which exports metric values from several subsystems of the Zimbra Suite.  Further
       details on Zimbra can be found at http://www.zimbra.com/.

INSTALLATION

       If you want access to the names and values for the zimbra performance metrics, do the following as root:

	       # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/zimbra
	       # ./Install

       If you want to undo the installation, do the following as root:

	       # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/zimbra
	       # ./Remove

       pmdazimbra is launched by pmcd(1) and should never be executed directly.  The Install and Remove scripts notify pmcd(1) when the agent is
       installed or removed.

FILES

       /opt/zimbra/zmstat/*
	   comma-separated value files containing Zimbra performance data

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/zimbra/Install
	   installation script for the pmdazimbra agent

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/zimbra/Remove
	   undo installation script for the pmdazimbra agent

       $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/zimbra.log
	   default log file for error messages from pmdazimbra

SEE ALSO

       pmcd(1).

3.8.10							       Performance Co-Pilot						     PMDAZIMBRA(1)