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Information About

Rocks Cluster Distribution





OS Information

  name Rocks Cluster Distribution
  developer NPACI , SDSC , UCSD
  family Linux
  source Model Open Source
  latest Release Version 43
  latest Release Date July 6 , 2007
  kernel Type Monolithic Kernel , Linux
  license Various
  working State in development
  website http://wwwrocksclustersorg/


Rocks Cluster Distribution (originally called NPACI Rocks) is a Linux Distribution intended for High-performance Computing clusters. It was started by NPACI and the SDSC in 20001, and is funded in part by an NSF grant.2

Rocks was initially based off of the Red Hat Linux distribution, however modern versions of Rocks are now based on CentOS , with a modified Anaconda Installer that simplifies mass installation onto many computers. Rocks includes many tools (such as MPI ) which are not part of CentOS but are integral components that make a group of computers into a cluster.

Installations can be customized with additional software packages at install-time by using special user-supplied CDs (called "Roll CDs"). The "Rolls" extend the system by integrating seamlessly and automatically into the management and packaging mechanisms used by base software, greatly simplifying installation and configuration of large numbers of computers.3 Over a dozen Rolls have been created, including the SGE roll, the Condor roll, the Java roll, and the Ganglia roll.


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