HPC Cluster Remote Administration

As a turnkey cluster provider, one of the questions we always ask our clients is who is going to manage their cluster and what kind of experience do they have. While we have some clients that have full-time, in-house staff to administer their clusters, we also have some researchers and scientists who have to balance their time with not only conducting their studies but also managing this resource.

There are some that don’t mind handling these dual responsibilities, but it has been our experience that many, or most, would rather focus on their area of expertise. The result can sometimes lead to problems with submitting jobs to the cluster to under-utilization of the cluster to even more serious issues such as security. This is where Advanced Clustering Technologies is able to offer our expertise. The systems we build already ship with tools that allow for HPC cluster remote management, so it is pretty simple for us to handle the administration duties on a day-to-day basis. This includes adding and removing users, resetting passwords, installing software patches and updates, and they are are all areas in which we are very familiar. What this means to our clients is they now no longer have to worry about managing their cluster. They can shift their attention to their research and their students, where it should be.

In addition to HPC cluster remote administration, we are also thinking about offering hosting services for our clients. Perhaps you don’t have the space or the power or the cooling for your new cluster, but you need this resource to accomplish your work. Well, if we could provide a secure home for your cluster, including administration duties, is this something you would be interested in? We are still fleshing out the details; so if you have any ideas on how you would like to see this work, please let us know at [email protected].