HP XC System Software Administration Guide Version 2.1

1.6.3 Network Address Translation
The HP XC system uses Netw ork Address Translation (NAT ) to allow nodes in the HP XC
system that do not have direct external network connections to open outbound network
connections to external addresses. NAT enables application nodes to access n etwork-available
resources without the addition al network m anagem ent, resources, or load of making application
nodes part of an external public network.
1.6.4 Network Information Service
The configuration of Network Information Service (NIS) o n an HP XC system is an optional
step that is useful for easing user management and helpful for SLURM and LSF-HPC use.
You may decide to set up your user management with some other software, such as LDAP
(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol).
Use eith er the following two sugges
ted metho ds for setting up NIS on your HP XC system:
• Set all the cluster nodes as NIS clients. Both the master and slave NIS server are external
to the cluster.
• Set the head node as a slave (secondary) NIS server. The master NIS server is external to
the clust er. N odes with in the cluster use the internal server for NIS i nf o rmation. This
configuration is suggested fo r larger systems using NIS.
1.7 Local Storage
Local storage for each node holds the operating system , a copy of the HP XC system software,
and temporary space that can be used by jobs. Jobs that use local storage should be sure to clean
up files after they are run. System administrators ma y need to clean up temporary storage on
local machines if jobs do not do so adequately.
1.8 Understanding and Maintaining the File System
The proper maintenance of
the file system is crucial to the operation of th e HP XC s ystem. This
section offers guidelin
es for the maintenance of the file system and describes key directories.
Figure 1-2 illu strates the top of the file system hierarchy for an HP XC system.
Figure 1-2: HP XC File System Hierarchy
hptc_cluster
opt sbinetcbin
/
usr var
localbin
The basic file syst
em layout is the same as that of the Red Hat Advanced Server 3.0 L inux file
system. Ad d it ion
s to the layout to support the XC system are described in later sections.
The file system layout is structured to isolate the cluster-specific files from base operating
system files, described in Section 1.8 .1 . This isolation allo ws for flex ibility and ease of po tential
upgrades of the system software and keeps software from co nflicting with user installed
software. The files are segregated into the following types:
HP XC Administrative Environment 1-9