Dolphin Express DX Installation and Reference Guide
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Dolphin Express DX Installation and Reference Guide

- Windows version

Dolphin Interconnect Solutions ASA

This document describes the installation and usage of the Dolphin Express software stack version 3.6.0 in combination with Dolphin DX interconnect hardware.

Copyright © 2010 Dolphin Interconnect Solutions ASA

Published under Gnu Public License v2

May 6th, 2010

Table of Contents

1. Introduction & Overview

1. Who needs Dolphin Express and SuperSockets?
2. How do Dolphin Express and SuperSockets work?
3. What's Special about Dolphin Express and SuperSockets?
4. Contents of this Document
5. Terminology
6. Contact & Feedback: Dolphin Support

2. Quick Installation Guide

3. Requirements and Planning

1. Supported Platforms

1.1. Hardware

1.1.1. Dolphin Hardware Kit
1.1.2. Supported Platforms
1.1.3. Recommended Node Hardware
1.1.4. Recommended Frontend Hardware

1.2. Software Support

1.2.1. Linux
1.2.2. Windows
1.2.3. Solaris

2. Interconnect Planning

2.1. Nodes to Equip with Dolphin Express Interconnect
2.2. Dolphin DX Interconnect Topology
2.3. Physical Node Placement

4. Initial Installation

1. Installation Overview

1.1. System installation overview
1.2. Installing the Front-end software
1.3. Install the compute node software
1.4. Installation Result

2. Dolphin DX Adapter Card Installation

3. Software and Cable Installation

3.1. Running the Dolphin Installer

3.2. Commandline installation

3.2.1. Install Standard
3.2.2. Manager
3.2.3. Uninstall

3.3. Post installation

3.4. Working with the Dolphin Network Configurator, dis_netconfig

3.4.1. Cluster Edit
3.4.2. Node Arrangement
3.4.3. Cabling Instructions

3.5. Cluster Cabling

3.5.1. Connecting the Dolphin DX cables
3.5.2. Verifying the Cabling

3.6. Handling Installation Problems

3.7. Interconnect Validation using the management GUI

3.7.1. Installing dxadmin
3.7.2. Starting dxadmin
3.7.3. Cluster Overview
3.7.4. Cabling Correctness Test
3.7.5. Fabric Quality Test

3.8. Making Cluster Application use Dolphin Express

5. Interconnect Maintenance

1. Verifying Functionality and Performance

1.1. Availability of Drivers and Services

1.2. Cable Connection Test

1.3. Static Interconnect Test

1.4. Interconnect Load Test

1.4.1. Test Execution from sciadmin GUI
1.4.2. Test Execution from Command Line

1.5. Interconnect Performance Test

2. Replacing Interconnect Cables

3. Replacing an Adapter

4. Physically Moving Nodes

5. Replacing a Node

6. Adding Nodes

7. Removing Nodes

6. SuperSockets

1. Make Generic Applications use SuperSockets

2. SuperSockets Functionality and Performance

2.1. SuperSockets Status

2.2. SuperSockets Functionality

2.2.1. latency_bench

1. Dolphin DX Hardware
2. Software

A. dxadmin Reference

2. Interconnect Status View

2.2. Operation

2.2.1. Cluster Status
2.2.2. Node Status

3. Node and Interconnect Control

3.1. Admin Menu
3.2. Cluster Menu
3.3. Node Menu
3.4. Cluster Settings
3.5. Adapter Settings

4. Interconnect Testing & Diagnosis

4.1. Cable Test
4.2. Fabric Test

5. Troubleshooting Best Practice

B. Configuration Files

1. Cluster Configuration

1.1. dishosts.conf

1.1.1. Basic settings
1.1.2. SuperSockets settings
1.1.3. Miscellaneous Notes

1.2. networkmanager.conf

1.3. cluster.conf

C. DX Firmware upgrade

List of Figures

4.1. Windows Installer: Icon
4.2. Windows Installer: Welcome Message
4.3. Windows Installer: Setup Type
4.4. Windows Installer: Custom Setup
4.5. Windows Installer: Installing Software
4.6. Windows Installer: Cancel Wizard
4.7. Windows Installer: Continue Anyway
4.8. Windows Installer: Configure Firewall
4.9. Windows Installer: Completed
4.10. Windows Installer: Network Connection
4.11. Windows Installer: Conputer Management
4.12. Rescan devices
4.13. msiexec helpmeu
4.14. Cluster Edit dialog of dis_netconfig
4.15. Main dialog of dis_netconfig
4.16. Node dialog of dis_netconfig
4.17. DX x8 connection
4.18. Starting dxadmin
4.19. dxadmin, connect
A.1. Fabric is UP
A.2. Fabric is DEGRADED
A.3. Fabric is REDUCED
A.4. Fabric has FAILED due to loss of connectivity
A.5. Fabric has FAILED due to dead nodes
A.6. Options in the Admin menu
A.7. Options in the Cluster menu
A.8. Options in the Node menu
A.9. Cluster configuration in dxadmin
A.10. Advanced settings for a node
A.11. Result of running cable test on a good cluster
A.12. Result of cable test on a problematic cluster
A.13. Result of fabric test without installing all the necessary rpms
A.14. Result of fabric test on a proper fabric

List of Tables

3.1. Dolphin DX cables
A.1. Node or Adapter State
A.2. Link State

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