OBCP Informatics Portal

Ohio Biodiversity Conservation Partnership (OBCP) Informatics Wiki

This section of the wiki is designed to instruct and share with users the features of the Ohio Biodiversity Conservation Partnership (OBCP) Informatics Infrastructure housed within the C.A. Triplehorn Insect Collection Computing Rack. The rack is administered by Joe Cora, so direct any software or hardware queries to him.

General Information

• Address: obcp-server.biosci.ohio-state.edu

Accessing the Cluster

For some information on accessing the OBCP cluster, visit the Accessing the OBCP Cluster page.

Multiple Processor Runs on the Cluster

For some information on running parallel processes on the OBCP cluster, visit the Multiple Processor Runs on the OBCP Cluster page.

Hardware

Current Configuration

• Server
  • Model: Dell PowerEdge R820
  • OS: Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit
  • CPU: 4 x Intel Xeon E5-4650L (8 cores, 16 threads) -> 64 available pseudo-processors
  • RAM: 256GB (16 x 16GB) (upgradeable to 768GB)
  • HD: 146GB (RAID0)
• Network Attached Storage (NAS) Unit
  • Model: Dell PowerVault NX3100
  • OS: Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 x64
  • CPU: Intel Xeon E5620 (4 cores)
  • RAM: 12GB
  • HD: 6TB (RAID6 - 4 x 3TB) (upgradeable to 30GB)

Upgrade Potential

The initial configuration of the OBCP cluster was designed to allow hardware upgrade to both RAM and hard disk storage capacity. In order for an upgrade to occur, specific hardware must be used that matches the current equipment.

RAM Upgrade

RAM upgrades must be made in batches of four to accommodate a new RAM chip for each processor, thus limiting the number of upgrades to two separate events. Below are the specifications for a RAM chip:

• RAM
  • Model: Samsung 16GB (PC3-12800) DDR3-1600MHz, ECC Registered DIMM, Dual Rank
  • Model #: M393B2G70BH0-CK0
  • Price: ~$386 (as of 06-Sep-2012)

Storage Capacity Upgrade

Adding additional storage capacity to the NAS is easy. The NAS is setup to allow the failure of two hard disks at the same time without losing any data from storage. This requires a large amount of storage overhead for limited disk arrays but allows subsequent disks added to contribute almost all of its space towards the effective capacity. This means that by adding a single, 3TB disk to the current setup the total effective storage space will also increase by 3TB and so on for additional disks. Below are the specifications for a hard disk:

• Hard Disk
  • Model: Seagate 3TB 7200RPM 64MB ES.2 SAS
  • Model #: ST33000650SS
  • Price: ~$360 (as of 06-Sep-2012)

Software

• TODO