How to Install the Operating System Rocks Cluster Distribution

Introduction

Welcome, intrepid cluster enthusiast! You’re about to embark on a journey worthy of digital pioneers everywhere. Today we’ll install the Rocks Cluster Distribution, a specialized Linux OS designed to turn a pile of commodity hardware into a high-performance computing (HPC) powerhouse. We’ll keep things serious, detailed, and—because life without humor is like a Raspberry Pi without GPIO pins—lighthearted.

By the end of this guide you’ll have a functioning cluster ready to tackle workloads from scientific simulations to big data analysis. Let’s rock!

System Requirements

First things first: gather your hardware and ensure you meet the minimum requirements. Note that real performance scales with more RAM, faster CPUs, and low-latency network interconnects.

**Minimum Hardware Specifications**
Component	Minimum	Recommended
Head node CPU	2 cores @ 2GHz	4 cores @ 3GHz
Compute node CPU	2 cores @ 2GHz	8 cores @ 2.5GHz
RAM (per node)	4 GiB	16 GiB
Storage (per node)	50 GiB HDD	SSD or NVMe 120 GiB
Network	1 GbE	10 GbE or Infiniband

You’ll also need:

A reliable power supply (no magic wands included).
Switch or router capable of handling internal network traffic.
A workstation to serve as a console (or just your laptop, if you prefer).

1. Downloading Rocks

Head over to the official Rocks website and grab the ISO. You can use wget if you’re already on a Linux machine:

wget -O rocks.iso http://rollsite.rocksclusters.org/rocks6/isos/latest/rocks-6.2.iso

Pro tip: If your download fails at 99.9%, blame your ISP, curse gently, and retry. Persistence pays off!

2. Preparing Installation Media

Burn the ISO to a DVD or create a bootable USB stick. Here’s the USB method:

Identify your USB drive: lsblk.
Write the ISO:
```
dd if=rocks.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress  sync
```
Replace /dev/sdX with your USB device (e.g. /dev/sdb).

Double-check you didn’t choose your system disk—unless you want a surprise cluster on your desktop.

3. Network Planning

A well-behaved cluster needs a neat IP scheme. Typically:

Head node: 192.168.1.1
Compute nodes: 192.168.1.2–192.168.1.254
Netmask: 255.255.255.0

Configure your switch and DHCP (if using) accordingly. Rocks can run its own DHCP server, but you can also integrate with your existing infrastructure.

4. Installing the Head Node

4.1 Boot Installer

Insert the media into your prospective head node. Boot from it, and you’ll see the Rocks installer menu.

4.2 Basic Configuration

Select Install.
Choose your keyboard layout and locale.
Set the root password. (Hint: not password.)
Partition disks—defaults usually work well.

4.3 Network Settings

When prompted, specify:

IP address: 192.168.1.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: (your external gateway, if any)
DNS: (your preferred DNS servers)

4.4 Selecting Roll CDs

Rocks uses “rolls” (modular package collections). At minimum, include:

base (core OS)
hpc (MPI, batch scheduler, etc.)

If you need other software—say, R or TensorFlow—you can install additional rolls post-install.

4.5 Finalize Installation

Sit back, grab a ☕, and let the installer do its thing. When finished, reboot into your new head node.

5. Post-Install Configuration on the Head Node

5.1 Logging In

5.2 Verify Services

Check Rocks daemons: rocks status
Ensure DHCP, DNS, and NFS are running:

systemctl status dhcpd
systemctl status named
systemctl status nfs

5.3 User Management

Create your cluster user:

useradd -m clusteruser
passwd clusteruser

Add them to wheel for sudo privileges if desired.

6. Adding Compute Nodes

Now the fun multiplies—by the number of nodes. Connect each compute node to the network and ensure it boots from the network (PXE).

6.1 PXE Boot

Enable PXE in BIOS/UEFI.
Boot, and the node should fetch an OS image from the head node’s TFTP server.

6.2 Auto-Discovery

Rocks will auto-discover new nodes and assign them a name like compute-001. The installation proceeds unattended.

6.3 Verification

rocks list host
rocks list host run

You should see your new compute nodes listed as running.

7. Testing Your Cluster

Confirm that MPI and your scheduler work properly.

7.1 Simple MPI Test

mpirun -np 4 hostname

Each compute node should reply with its hostname. If you get timeouts, check network connectivity and firewall rules.

7.2 Batch Scheduler Test

qsub -l nodes=2:ppn=2 << EOF
#!/bin/bash
echo Running on:
cat PBS_NODEFILE
EOF

Verify that your job runs across two nodes as requested.

8. Advanced Configuration

8.1 Parallel File System

For large scale I/O, consider deploying BeeGFS or Lustre. Rocks supports rolls for these.

8.2 GPFS Integration

If you have IBM GPFS, get the roll from GitHub and install:

rocks add roll gpfs-roll.iso

8.3 Monitoring

Consider Ganglia or PROMETHEUS to monitor cluster health:

rocks add roll ganglia-roll.iso
Configure web interface under /var/www/html/ganglia

9. Troubleshooting

Node not PXE-booting: Check BIOS settings, network cable, and TFTP logs (/var/log/xinetd.log).
DHCP conflict: Ensure no other DHCP server on the same subnet.
Slow NFS: Tune /etc/exports and mount options (rsize, wsize).
MPI hangs: Confirm Open MPI and IB drivers match across nodes.

Conclusion

Congratulations—you’re now the proud operator of a Rocks cluster! Whether you’re crunching numbers for scientific research or just flexing your nerd muscles, you’ve earned this achievement.

Remember to back up your head node configuration, keep your rolls up to date, and share tips with the community at rocksclusters.org. Now go forth and compute at scale!

Official Website of Rocks Cluster Distribution

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