HP Scalable Visualization Array Software - Manual (Page 18)

Components of the HP Cluster Platform
Because the SVA is an extension of the HP Cluster Platform, you can begin by understanding its base
components without any visualization nodes. The following are the key architectural components of an HP
Cluster Platform system without visualization nodes:
Compute Nodes and
Administrative/Service Nodes
The compute cluster consists of compute nodes and administrative or
service nodes. Parallel applications are allocated exclusive use of the
compute nodes on which they run. The other nodes provide
administration, software installation, remote login, file I/O, external
network access, and so on. These nodes are shared by multiple jobs,
and are not allocated to individual jobs.
System Interconnect (SI) A high-bandwidth, low-latency network which connects all nodes. This
supports communication among the compute nodes (for example, MPI
and sockets) and file I/O between compute nodes and a shared file
system.
Administrative Network An Administrative Network connects all nodes in the cluster. In an HP
XC compute cluster, this consists of two branches, the Administrative
Network and the Console Network. This private local Ethernet network
runs TCP/IP. The Administrative Network is Gigabit Ethernet (GigE);
the Console Network is 10/100 BaseT. (Because visualization nodes
do not support console functions, visualization nodes are not
connected to a console branch.)
Linux The nodes of the cluster run a derivative of 64-bit Red Hat® Enterprise
Linux Advanced Server.
Note
All nodes must attach to two networks using different ports, one for the SI and one for the Administrative
Network.
Main Visualization Cluster Tasks
The SVA has a number of tasks that are unique to a visualization cluster. It accomplishes these tasks using
a set of unique node types that differ in their hardware configurations, and so are capable of different
functional tasks. The main tasks are as follows:
Render images.
A node must have a graphics card to render images. A visualization
job uses multiple nodes to render image data in parallel. A render
node typically communicates over the SI with other render and display
nodes to composite and display images.
Display images. The final output of a visualization application is a complete displayed
image that is the result of the parallel rendering that takes place during
an application job. To make this possible, a display node must contain
a graphics card connected to a display device. The display can show
images integrated with the application user interface, or full screen
images. The output can be a complete display or one tile of an
aggregate display.
Remote images. The SVA also supports the transmission of a complete image to a
system external to the cluster over an external network for remote
viewing; for example, to an office workstation outside the lab. A node
with a port connected to the external network is recommended.
Alternatively, you can connect to the external network by routing
through another cluster node with such a port.
Integrate an application user
interface. An application user interface (UI) usually runs on a cluster node. The
UI typically controls the parts of the distributed application running
on other nodes. A node that provides users with acess to the UI can
have an attached keyboard, mouse, and monitor for user interaction.
Alternatively, the node can export the application UI to an external
node using the X protocol or using the HP Remote Graphics Software
18 SVA Architecture