[Beowulf] One network, or two?

[Joshua Baker-LePain]

On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 at 1:20pm, Greg Lindahl wrote

> On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 03:21:55PM -0400, Joshua Baker-LePain wrote:
>
>> In theory, it's a great idea.  In practice, wiring up an entire 2nd
>> network gets to be a major PITA (as well as being uncheap) as your
>> cluster size increases.  I've got ~350 nodes here, and a 2nd set of
>> cabling is really, really low on the list of projects I'd like to tackle.
>
> I can name a bunch of 350 node clusters that have multiple networks.
> So, obviously, YMMV.

Those are probably at schools which actually *have* undergrads.  *sigh*  I 
need flunkies...

In all seriousness, if management and/or file traffic were slowing down 
*work*, then I'd absolutely go for a 2nd network.  But ours is a mixed use 
cluster running primarily EP serial jobs.  As you said, mileage varies.

-- 
Joshua Baker-LePain
QB3 Shared Cluster Sysadmin
UCSF