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Workload management software attempts to route jobs to each core to make sure the overall system runs at peak efficiency. Image courtesy of Altair Engineering


Squeezing out that last bit of


efficiency


HPC systems are far from inexpensive, so operators want to keep their computers running at the highest possible capacity. A key to doing so is workload management software, which distributes jobs in a cluster, grid or


cloud. Paul Schreier examines some trends in this critical area


T


he choices available to solve complex scientific computational tasks keep increasing at a tremendous rate; now we have cluster computing,


grid computing, cloud computing, GPU 24 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD


computing and other technologies. Because of this proliferation, it’s increasingly difficult to make sure any given task is assigned to the most appropriate core so that you use all cores most efficiently and cost-effectively.


Luckily, workload management software is evolving along with hardware options. When you examine datasheets and


product descriptions, though, you’ll have some difficulty finding major differences among these products; after all, they all do the same basic job. It also doesn’t take much arm-twisting to get representatives from various suppliers to admit as much when they say that as soon as one developer comes up with a useful feature, it’s not long before the others follow suit.


Critical middleware While there might be few major differentiating features among HPC


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