Software Lab

 

HPC Cluster Challenge

Today, even common desktop PCs and laptops are equipped with multiple cores to increase overall compute power and to complete tasks in shorter runtime. However, due to the ever increasing demands for computational power in scientific and commercial areas, single computers are usually connected to each other. These network-connected computers are also known as cluster of compute nodes and may typically be operated by HPC centers or cloud providers.

In this software lab, students build, network and install their own small clusters based on different computer architectures. Furthermore, they port benchmarks to the corresponding clusters, engineer performance metrics and measure power consumption. At the end, the students present their results.

The objectives of this software lab are the basic knowledge of cluster construction, especially the setup of an own cluster with provided hardware. Moreover, the understanding of the specific characteristics of a cluster and their evaluation with regard to power consumption, energy efficiency and various performance metrics is conveyed.