ACADEMIA

Cluster Resources, Inc. today announced the release of Moab Cluster Suite 4.2.2, a cluster workload management solution that integrates scheduling, monitoring and reporting for clusters, increasing organizations' return on high-performance computing hardware and software investments. “Our objective with Moab Cluster Suite 4.2.2 is to enable more users to easily use a cluster, let even the newest network administrations gain intuitive control over their cluster without training, and to allow sites with high levels of complexity to gain more fine-grained control over virtually every aspect of workload usage and system integration,” said David Jackson, Cluster Resources' chief technology officer. “Our customers consistently see the industries' highest utilization rates, commonly helping them achieve 10 to 30 percent more work on their existing hardware and sometimes even more.” Overcome Cluster Challenges Moab Cluster Suite, made by the developers of Maui Cluster Scheduler, schedules, manages and optimizes workload to increase CPU utilization to 90-99 percent on clusters and local area grids. With its intelligent scheduling engine, Moab allocates jobs to the most appropriate resources, removing guess work for users. Moab's advanced management features include monitoring and reporting capabilities that provide administrators with comprehensive diagnostic and reporting tools to track performance and increase uptime. The suite simplifies clustering, so any skill-level of user can work on clusters with ease and minimal training. “Moab's reporting tools were valuable and we saved time on end-user training because of how easy it was to use,” said Adam Cody, a Unix Cluster Administrator at a leading automotive consultancy. “Furthermore, the software was reasonably priced, and paid for itself within the first year.” Demand More from a Cluster Moab Cluster Suite 4.2.2's expanded capabilities simplify clusters for end users, increase utilization with advanced scheduling features and grant administrators greater control of cluster workload and resources. Moab 4.2.2 helps organizations get more performance and ease-of-use from their clusters than ever before. Moab Cluster Suite 4.2.2's added features will decrease end user training requirements and help them get work done faster. Users can now choose to submit jobs quickly with the new simplified job submission window or further customize their jobs in an advanced job submission window with extended options. Users can submit jobs faster using job submission templates, which leverage saved job settings so they can be used repeatedly. New integrated documentation lets users find answers to their questions with the click of a button. These features reduce training requirements for administrators, and novice to advanced end users can easily manage jobs according to their needs. Moab Cluster Suite 4.2.2 includes significant advancements in its scheduling capabilities, including scheduling of arbitrary resources (e.g. operating systems, DVD drives, networks, etc.) and multi-cluster scheduling. With Moab, organizations schedule cluster resources more efficiently and improve resource utilization. Guy Adams, the assistant director of the center for High Performance Computing at the University of Utah said, “Since the U of U is very diverse in its grants and research needs, having a flexible scheduler has enabled us to utilize our systems at a higher percentage, as well as meet the demands dictated by the funding agencies.” Another cluster administrator said “Moab reduced my administrative time by a factor of two and my failed jobs by a factor of 10.” Moab now gives administrators greater control and helps decrease their workload with new features such as customizable triggers. Triggers can be set to automate actions and enforce special condition policies. For example, an administrator can set a trigger to cancel a reservation if it is not used within a certain time frame, improving resource availability for others. An administrator might set a trigger to create a full diagnostic report, a second trigger to send this report to himself in an e-mail and a third trigger to move the downed node's workload to a working node. With the limitless possibilities triggers provide, administrators can now quickly automate manual tasks, decrease downtime and improve cluster availability for end users. “As organizations use Moab Cluster Suite, our goal is for them to reach the highest potential their clusters can offer,” said Jackson. “We offer an inexpensive solution to increase cluster efficiency as well as make clusters easier to use for everyone.” Try Moab Free A free Moab Cluster Suite 4.2.2 evaluation is available at its Web site. It can be used on an organization's test or production cluster or on Cluster Resources' test cluster. Current customers may download Moab 4.2.2 at its Web site. Product information and pricing inquiries can be directed to info@clusterresources.com or +1 (801) 873-3400.