<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV>Hi,</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>I am a big fan of running repeated single node HPL and HPCC runs - it beats up memory and the cpu quite nicely. I would emphasize the repeated part. A lot of hardware issues don't show up until machines heat up and cool down a few times, so maybe wait a bit between runs. Also, feel free to exceed your physical memory and use a bit of swap too for a couple of runs - although I'd never do that for a qualifying or tuning run. All of that said, the individual node HPLs are the sort of baseline data that makes tuning during multinode HPLs easier down the line.<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I'd also agree with the value of thousands of tars and untars - but I'd keep it to directories with large numbers of small files. One of my co-workers favors /usr/include for that purpose.<DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Happy Testing,</DIV><DIV>William</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"><DIV><DIV><DIV><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</DIV><DIV>William Scullin</DIV><DIV>Systems Engineer</DIV><DIV>3006E NCSA Building</DIV><DIV>National Center for Supercomputing Applications</DIV><DIV>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign</DIV><DIV>Urbana, Illinois 61801</DIV><DIV>office: +1-217-244-4866</DIV><DIV>mobile: +1-225-772-5273</DIV><DIV>e-mail: <A href="mailto:wscullin@ncsa.uiuc.edu">wscullin@ncsa.uiuc.edu</A></DIV><DIV>AIM IM: WilliamAtNCSA</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>“Like almost all others that began with metaphysical discussions. </DIV><DIV>The theory has advanced but the practical science is still in its </DIV><DIV>infancy and the modern statesman is constantly short of facts on </DIV><DIV>which he can base his speculations.”</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>- Antoine Lavosier</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Oct 8, 2006, at 11:32 AM, Karen Shaeffer wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">On Sun, Oct 08, 2006 at 09:09:11AM +0100, John Hearns wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Nico Mittenzwey wrote:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Other things to consider for a stress test are:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Unpack a clean Linux kernel tree. Do a kernel compile. Tar up the<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">resulting tree. Repeat, and compare the two resulting tar files.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">A linux kernel compile is a surprisingly good way of stressing a system.</DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I would agree compiling the linux kernel is an excellent stress test. I've</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">set it up in an endless loop, where multiple, independent tress are compiled</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">in parallel. It does discover memory problems rather effectively, if you</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">let it run a day or two.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Thanks,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Karen</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>Karen Shaeffer</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>Neuralscape, Palo Alto, Ca. 94306</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN><A href="mailto:shaeffer@neuralscape.com">shaeffer@neuralscape.com</A><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>http://www.neuralscape.com</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Beowulf mailing list, <A href="mailto:Beowulf@beowulf.org">Beowulf@beowulf.org</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit <A href="http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf">http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>