HP Scalable Visualization Array Software - Manual (Page 16)

1.4.2 Flexibility
One of the most powerful attributes of the SVA is its flexibility, which makes it possible to apply
the SVA effectively to a wide range of technical problems. This flexibility derives from the
architectural characteristics of the SVA.
When the architectural characteristics of the SVA are integrated with an HP high performance
compute cluster (see
Figure 1-1 ), you can select an optimal number of application or compute
nodes and match them with an appropriate number of render and display nodes. Visual
applications with high computation requirements can be distributed over the compute nodes
and the visualization nodes; thus the render nodes can double as compute nodes.
This flexibility is critical because visualization applications often need to perform intensive
computations to compute isosurfaces, streamlines, or particle traces. You can select application
nodes based on factors such as model size, and match them to the visualization nodes your
application needs to yield the desired performance and resolution.
1.5 Application Support
This section introduces software support for application developers. Chapter 3 contains more
information on the software tools available for application developers.
HP recognizes that a key capability of the SVA is to make it possible for serial applications to
run without extensive recoding. To that end, HP works with both commercial ISVs and the open
source community to ensure solutions are available for the SVA.
Figure 1-3 illustrates the layers of software support and their hierarchical interrelationships that
are part of the SVA. These include:
• Cluster management software (HP XC) and visualization resource management software
(SVA Software Utilities).
• Visualization toolkits and libraries.
• User and third-party visualization applications.
Figure 1-3 also shows the tasks carried out by the SVA Software Utilities (part of the Visualization
System Software (VSS)). These tasks — allocate, launch, initialize, cleanup — are aligned alongside
the software layers they impact.
Figure 1-3 Software Support for Application Development and Use
Visualization
Libraries
(optional)
Applications
X Servers
HP XC Linux
Allocate
Launch
Initialize
Cleanup
SVA
Software
Utilities
OpenGL
Cluster Nodes and Displays
Visualization and graphics toolkits are provided by third party vendors and the open source
community. ISV applications and applications written by end users can run on the SVA, taking
16 Introduction