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Dell HPC Lustre Storage solution with Mellanox Infiniband EDR
Figure 8: OSS Scalability
Management
Network
High Performance Data Network
Metadata
Servers
Object Storage
Servers
Intel Manager for Lustre
Object Storage
Servers
Object Storage
Targets (OSTs)
Object Storage
Targets (OSTs)
Metadata
Target (MDT)
Management
Target (MGT)
Compute clients
(Intel Omni-Path, InfiniBand, 40 or 10GbE)
Scaling the Dell HPC Lustre Storage can be achieved by adding additional OSS pairs with storage
backend, demonstrated in Figure 8. This will increase both the total network throughput as well as the
storage capacity at once. This allows for an increase in the volume of storage available while
maintaining a consistent maximum network throughput.
3.5 Networking
3.5.1 Management Network
The private management network provides a communication infrastructure for Lustre and Lustre HA
functionality as well as storage configuration, monitoring and maintenance. This network creates the
segmentation required to facilitate day-to-day operations and to limit the scope of troubleshooting and
maintenance. The management server uses this network to interact with the different solution
components to query and collect systems health information, as well as to perform any management
changes initiated by administrators. Both OSS and MDS servers interact with the management server to
provide health information, performance data, and to interact during management operations. The
PowerVault MD3420 and MD3460 controllers are accessed via the out-of-band (ethernet ports) to
monitor storage array health, and to perform management actions on the storage backend.
This level of integration allows even an inexperienced operator to efficiently and effortlessly monitor
and administer the solution. The default information is summarized for quick inspection, but users can
zoom in to a level of detail of messages from server or storage components.
3.5.2 Data Network
The Lustre file system is served via a Lustre Network (LNet) implementation on Infiniband EDR fabric.
This is the network used by the clients to access data. The Intel Manager for Lustre (IML) GUI interface
provides an option to configure either a single or multiple Lustre Network Identifiers (NID) on MDS and
OSS servers to participate in the Lustre Network. For instance, you could configure your Infiniband EDR