High Performance Computing Engagement Model
The professional services engagement model is a full service solution for deployment of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for High Performance Computing solutions.
Assessment
While considering a High Performance Computing (HPC) deployment, many current factors are reviewed, including:
- File system (cluster size, type of file access, speed of file system)
- Application (parallelization of applications, shared data)
- Benchmarks (measure and baseline performance requirements and scalability of compute nodes)
- Processing power (processing demand for applications)
- Network demands (network demand for service)
After assessing the client's current environment, objectives are clarified and quantified, and the team roles clearly defined. A Functional Requirements document is created based on the analysis. This document outlines the activities to be completed during the implementation. From this roadmap, a detailed project plan is derived.
Planning and Design
Once the Functional Requirements document is created and approved by the client, detailed planning can begin. The Planning and Design phase determines the architecture of the MPP cluster, the application development/porting map (if required), and results in an implementation plan.
As the project is planned, discussion begins regarding the necessary resources; both equipment and personnel, that are required to meet the project objectives. This activity includes a review of existing client resources, and assists the client in the procurement of unidentifed resources to ensure successful project completion.
Development and Validation
At this stage, the actual implementation of the HPC solution begins. This phase includes any required Red Hat Kickstart (TM) development, performance tuning, application porting, as well as comprehensive testing. Using the internal milestones defined in the Planning and Design phase, the Development and Validation process is self-monitoring and provides a useful mechanism for timely and appropriate feedback to both the development team and management.
The Development and Validation phase represents the majority of the actual development work (tuning, porting, etc) required to meet the defined requirements. A successful deployment is directly proportionate to the level of effort contributed to test planning and execution.
Once all testing and tuning is complete and the team members have signed-off on the test results, the HPC configuration is moved into production.
Deployment and Operations
Upon project completion, Red Hat provides a range of deliverables:
- Functional Requirements
- Implementation Plan
- Any source code
- Any installation or operation procedures
- User documentation
- Product training and support plan
Red Hat provides IT staff and management resources to augment existing teams or reduce overhead, as well as effective transition management and knowledge transfer to organizations with limited in-house Linux administration skills. Red Hat Enterprise Network services facilitate ongoing, scalable configuration managment.
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