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6.2 What's in OSCAROSCAR brings together a number of software packages for clustering. Most of the packages listed in this section are available as standalone packages and have been briefly described in Chapter 2. Some of the more important packages are described in detail in later chapters as well. However, there are several scripts unique to OSCAR. Most are briefly described in this chapter. It is likely that everything you really need to get started with a high-performance cluster is included either in the OSCAR tar-ball or as part of the base operating system OSCAR is installed under. Nonetheless, OSCAR provides a script, the Oscar Package Downloader (opd) that simplifies the download and installation of additional packages that are available from OSCAR repositories in an OSCAR-compatible format. opd is so easy to use that for practical purposes any package available through opd can be considered part of OSCAR. opd can be invoked as a standalone program or from the OSCAR installation wizard, the GUI-based OSCAR installer. Additional packages available using opd include things like Myrinet drivers and support for thin OSCAR clients, as well as management packages like Ganglia. Use of opd is described later in this chapter. OSCAR packages fall into three categories. Core packages must be installed. Included packages are distributed as part of OSCAR, but you can opt out on installing these packages. Third-party packages are additional packages that are available for download and are compatible with OSCAR, but aren't required. There are six core packages at the heart of OSCAR that you must install:
OSCAR includes a number of packages and scripts that are used to build your cluster. The installation wizard will give you the option of deciding which to include:
OSCAR provides additional system tools, either as part of the OSCAR distribution or through opd, used to manage your cluster:
Of course, any high-performance cluster would be incomplete without programming tools. The OSCAR distribution includes four packages, while two more (as noted) are available through opd:
If you install the four included packages, the default, they should cover all your programming needs. Additionally, OSCAR will install and configure (or reconfigure) a number of services and packages supplied as part of your Linux release.[1] These potentially include Apache, DHCP, NFS, mySQL, openSSL, openSSH, rrdtool, pcp, php, python, rsync, tftp, etc. Exactly which of these is actually installed or configured will depend on what other software you elect to install. In the unlikely event that you are unhappy with the way OSCAR sets up any of these, you'll need to go back and reconfigure them after the installation is completed.
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