HPCwire: SGI Altix Runs Single Linux Instance on 1K Processors

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June 30, 2006

SGI Altix Runs Single Linux Instance on 1K Processors

Silicon Graphics has announced another high-performance computing first: the world's largest computer to operate under a single copy of the Linux OS.

On its SGI Altix 4700 blade platform and a beta version of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 from Novell, SGI demonstrated a single system image (SSI) running on a world-record 1,024 processors. Until that moment, the largest Linux SSI operated on 512 processors -- another SGI record.

SGI heralded the achievement as the world's top HPC innovators arrive in Dresden, Germany for the 21st International Supercomputing Conference.

"Since first introducing the SGI Altix platform in 2003, SGI time and again has demonstrated its unique ability to support high-end workloads on Linux by setting remarkable scalability records," said Dave Parry, senior vice president and product general manager, SGI. "At the time SGI first demonstrated its Altix server line, it was commonly believed that Linux could not scale beyond 16 processors. Today, SGI proves once again that it can confound the expectations of an entire industry in ways that benefit HPC users worldwide."

"Once again, SUSE Linux Enterprise proves itself as a technical leader in the market, this time in the area of Linux scalability," said Roger Levy, Novell vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions. "Novell and SGI continue to reset expectations of what the world can expect from an industry-standard, enterprise-class Linux platform. As the system requirements for high-performance computing continue to grow more complex, only SUSE Linux Enterprise can scale to meet those business needs."

The record-breaking Altix 4700 system is now installed in Munich, Germany, at the Leibniz Computing Centre Munich (LRZ). LRZ houses Germany's National Supercomputer System, and the Altix 4700 installation marked the completion of LRZ's Phase I deployment, which incorporates 4,096 Intel Itanium 2 processors, 17TB of global shared memory, and a 330 TB SGI InfiniteStorage solution.

The LRZ system, known as HLRB II, operates all 4,096 processors as a unified platform that enables applications to directly address all 17 TB of memory.

"LRZ is excited to deploy a system architecture that will give us not only a powerful new HPC engine, but one that offers the freedom to explore system configurations at the true leading edge of SSI partitioning," said Dr. Matthias Brehm, head of the HPC Group at LRZ. "The Altix architecture offers a unique opportunity to run both shared-memory, pure MPI tasks and hybrid codes."

Though LRZ will initially operate the system in 256-processor partitions, HLRB-II administrators plan to move to 512-processor partitions in the next phase of installation.

"We are also interested in moving to the 1,024-processor SSI boundary to extend this capability later, as soon as our users express a demand for it," Dr. Brehm said.

Larger partitions will allow HLRB-II administrators to experience faster runtimes and more streamlined administration, while users will benefit from reduced code development. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 from Novell currently supports SSIs of up to 512 processors.

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