HPC design concept

The goal was to document the key considerations and best practices for designing, building and delivering a reliable, secure and manageable HPC environment.

What was done

• Covered infrastructure design, including hardware, node roles, networking, availability and resilience.
• Documented base system setup, OS deployment, repository management and software configuration.
• Explored user management, authentication and access methods.
• Covered storage options, monitoring and HPC workload management.
• Included system verification and performance testing methods.

What was learnt

A well-planned infrastructure and network design is essential for a reliable HPC environment.

Automation and centralised management simplify system deployment and maintenance.

Storage, monitoring and workload management should be selected based on the needs of users and applications.

Regular verification and benchmarking help ensure the system is configured correctly and performs as expected.