[Beowulf] Re: ECC Memory and Job Failures (Huw Lynes)

[Prentice Bisbal]

Gerry Creager wrote:
> David Mathog wrote:
>> Huw Lynes <lynesh at cardiff.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> http://blog.revolution-computing.com/2009/04/blame-it-on-cosmic-rays.html
>>>
>>>
>>> Apparently someone ran a large cluster job with both ECC and none-ECC
>>> RAM. They consistently got the wrong answer when foregoing ECC.
>>
>> There were not very many details given.  I would not rule out the
>> possibility that the nonECC memory was slightly faulty, and that the
>> observed errors had nothing to do with gamma rays at all.  A better test
>> would have been to use the same ECC memory for both tests, and to turn
>> ECC memory correction on and off in the BIOS.
> 
> Where's Jim Lux.  I'm sure he's an opinion on this, too...
> 

Opinion? I think he could write a book on this topic!

Last time this issue came up, he included links to several papers on
this topic published by Boeing. As you go up in the atmosphere, the
[prevalence|probability|concentration] of cosmic rays goes up
significantly. Boeing has done a lot of research on this topic, since it
can affect the operation of their [products|weapons].


-- 
Prentice