This chapter gives an overview of the steps necessary for a default installation using the self-installing archive format (SIA) as it is used by Dolphin for distribution of the Dolphin Express software stack for Linux.
Installation requirements: The SIA will work well on all Linux 2.6 x86 and x86_64 platforms that support the RPM package format.
For details, see Chapter 3, Requirements and Planning for general platform requirements of the Dolphin Express software stack and Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 1, “Installation Overview” for specific requirements for this installation procedure.
Adapter installation: Install the Dolphin Express interconnect adapters in the nodes.
The cables should not be installed in this step!
For details, see Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 2, “Dolphin DX Adapter Card Installation”.
Software download: Download the SIA (DIS_DX_install_<version>.sh) from http://www.dolphinics.com and store it in a directory on the machine that serves as the cluster frontend. Make sure root has write access to this directory.
Please make sure to download the installer for your cluster hardware. There are separate downloads for DX, IX and SCI/D for each supported operating system.
Start software installation: Become root and start the software installation by invoking the SIA as a shell script:
# sh DIS_DX_install_<version>.sh
In order to install the cluster nodes and the frontend machine, the installation procedure will ask a number of questions.
For details on this part of the installation, please see Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 3, “Software and Cable Installation”. For general information on the different ways to use the SIA, please see Appendix A, Self-Installing Archive (SIA) Reference.
Interconnect configuration: After the software has been installed, you need to set up the configuration files for the interconnect. The installer does this automatically, but for advanced options the GUI tool dis_netconfig can be started. In such a case the installation pauses until you quit dis_netconfig.
For details on how to perform this task, see Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 3.4, “Working with the Dolphin Network Configurator, dis_netconfig”.
Install cables: Using the Dolphin the Dolphin Network Configurator (dis_netconfig), you can create the cabling instructions for the Dolphin Express interconnect. Connect the cables according to these instructions.
For details on cable installation, see Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 3.5, “Cluster Cabling”.
Finish software installation: After the cables are installed, confirm the related question of the installation script. The script will then finish the installation and perform some basic tests of the interconnect.
For details on this part of the installation, see Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 3.6, “Finalising the Software Installation”.
Verify the installation: After the installation script completed, start dxadmin and use the cabling test and the fabric test to verify the interconnect installation.
Please carefully perform this test. If you enable your application to use Dolphin Express without completing this step, you may be required to stop or restart your application to overcome possible installation issues at a later stage. All tests should pass before using Dolphin Express for production purposes. At this point, you can safely execute your tests without affecting the system.
For details on how to run these tests and handle the results, see Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 3.8, “Interconnect Validation using the management GUI”.
Enable your applications to make use of SuperSockets by setting LD_PRELOAD=libksupersockets.so.
For details on this step, please see Chapter 4, Initial Installation,Section 3.9, “Making Cluster Application use Dolphin Express”