HPC subscriptions

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Hi,

I have recently bought 3 server from Dell with RHEL installed. We are planning to setup a small HPC cluster. We have 3 HPC compute note subscriptions. When we try to attach the subscription, we get an error saying that they dont properly cover the systems.

Does it have to be a 'special' installation for a HPC compute node subscription to be applicable?

Br Lars

ss
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andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
1 April 2014 5:34 PM

There are two ways to buy/implement HPC for RHEL 6:

Option 1: RHEL for HPC Head Node SKU (Standard or Premium) + RHEL for HPC Compute Nodes SKU (Self-Support)
Option 2: RHEL Server SKU + RHEL for HPC Compute Nodes (Self-Support)

Sounds like you have Option 2 - and assuming you purchased the HPC for Compute Nodes SKU, this should Just Work in both RHN Classic and Red Hat Subscription Management.

Out of curiosity, what does an 'ls /etc/pki/product/' return on the Compute Nodes?

ss Newbie 15 points
1 April 2014 6:49 PM

Thanks.

So I need to buy an additional subscription for either RHEL HPC Head Node or RFEL Server subscription for the head node server?

'ls /etc/pki/product/'returns only 69.pem on the compute node, but both 69.pem and 92.pem on the head node.

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
1 April 2014 6:58 PM

Hey Lars - so 69.pem is just stock RHEL Server - you probably don't want to burn full-blown server subscriptions for your compute nodes, as the Compute Node offering is much more appealing from a cost and support standpoint (they are self-support). 92.pem is the XFS add-on for RHEL 6. So you'll want to use 69.pem and 92.pem as the Head Node if you don't want support for the compute nodes and just order the Compute Node SKU. If you do want support for the compute nodes, you need to replace your RHEL Server with the RHEL for HPC Head Node (Standard or Premium) which also provides like support for the compute nodes (though they are listed as self-support). Might be good to hook up with your RH sales contact/account team for more info. Hope this helps...

ss Newbie 15 points
1 April 2014 7:59 PM

Thank you, Andrius. I really appreciate you helping me. I have contacted the local danish sales office, but they seems just as confused as am I when it comes to HPC subscriptions.

I found this on the Red Hat website:
https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/67400

It says:
RHEL for HPC Compute Nodes was available for RHEL 4 and RHEL 5 and continues to be available for RHEL 6. It is a version of RHEL only for use on HPC compute nodes and has a number of packages removed (vs. normal RHEL) that aren't relevant for this use case.

So here it seems you need a slimed down version of RHEL for the HPC compute node subscription to apply.

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
1 April 2014 8:17 PM

As for the local danish sales office - is it a Red Hat office, or a reseller/partner? If a RH office, I'd have them find out. There are no shortage of SKUs to recommend. ;-)

As for the offering - don't confuse the RHEL 5 HPC Solution with the RHEL 6 HPC offering. For RHEL 5 we (Red Hat) had a partnership with Platform Computing to provide their head node software, and it had a separate life cycle. With the RHEL 6 HPC, it just inherits the standard RHEL life cycle.

For RHEL 6 we no longer have the partnership and left it as an open-ended solution that any HPC software (even Platform Computing's) can be used like a third party. One can still use Platform's HPC solution to run on top of the current RHEL 6 Server or HPC Head Node and have support for the software through them just like other ISVs. I hope this helps. :-)

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