Product specifications

2 – Fast Fabric Overview

D000006-000 Rev A 2-3

Fast Fabric is typically installed on one or more IB Management Nodes. The IB

Management Node must be connected to the rest of the cluster via both InfiniBand

and a management network. The management network may be the primary

InfiniBand network (IPoIB) or Ethernet. The management network will be used for

Fast Fabric host setup and administration tasks. It may also be used for other

aspects of server administration or operation.

Depending on cluster size and design, the IB Management node may also be used

as the master node for starting MPI jobs. It may also be used to run a QLogic Host

SM and other management software. Consult the QLogic SM documentation for

details and what combinations are valid.

Note: When InfiniBand is used as the management network, Fast Fabric will not be

able to install host IB software nor configure IPoIB, however it will be able to support

host IB software upgrades, verification and all the other features of Fast Fabric.

If remote access to Fast Fabric is desired, setup remote access to the IB

Management Node via ssh, telnet, X windows, VNC or any other mechanism which

will allow the remote user to access a Linux Command Line shell. Typically Fast

Fabric is only used by cluster administrators.

2.2.1

How Fast Fabric Works

Fast Fabric consists of a variety of tools to administer hosts, chassis and externally

managed switches. Depending on the tool, the method of accessing and

administering the target devices may differ.

The following methods are used by Fast Fabric:

Typically tools which login to other hosts will do such in a password-less manner

using ssh or telnet (configurable). Tools which login to internally managed chassis

can use ssh or telnet (configurable). Chassis tools can prompt for a single password

for all chassis or can be preconfigured with the password. These approaches permit

Table 2-1. Fast Fabric Methods

Method Examples

Inband access via IB Fabric topology reports, SA

database queries, fabric error

and link speed analysis, tools

for externally managed

switches, etc

tools for internally managed

chassis, etc

MPI job startup (can be inband

or via management network)

Verify MPI performance,

running sample MPI

benchmarks