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Dell Technologies Validated Design for SIMULIA Abaqus® FEA with 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors
Introduction Business challenges Solution overview Solution architecture
Infrastructure servers
Compute servers
Storage
System networks
Cluster management software
Reference system SIMULIA Abaqus performance Conclusion

Infrastructure servers

Home > Workload Solutions > High Performance Computing > White Papers > Dell Technologies Validated Design for SIMULIA Abaqus® FEA with 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors > Infrastructure servers

Infrastructure servers

  • Infrastructure servers are used to administer the system and provide user access. They are not typically used for computation, rather they provide services that are critical to the overall HPC system. These servers are used as the management nodes and the login nodes. For smaller clusters, a single physical server can provide the necessary system management functions. Infrastructure servers can also be used to provide storage services, by using NFS, in which case they must be configured with additional disk drives or an external storage array. One management server is mandatory for an HPC system to deploy and manage the system. For high-availability (HA) management functionality, two management servers are required. Login nodes are optional and one login server per 30 to 100 users is recommended.

    The following table describes the recommended base configuration:

    Table 1.      Recommended base configuration for the infrastructure server

    Component

    Notes

    Dell EMC PowerEdge R650 server

    The PowerEdge R650 server is suited for this role. Typical HPC clusters use only a few infrastructure servers; therefore, density is not a priority, but manageability is important.

    Dual Intel Xeon Silver 4314 processors

     

    The Intel Xeon Silver 4314 processor with 16 cores per socket is recommended. If the infrastructure server will be used for CPU intensive tasks, such as compiling software or processing data, a more capable processor might be appropriate.

    256 GB of RAM (16 x 16 GB 3200 MTps DIMMs)

    256 GB of RAM provided by sixteen 16 GB DIMMs provides sufficient memory capacity with minimal cost per GB while also providing satisfactory memory bandwidth. For small systems (four nodes or less), an Ethernet network can provide sufficient application performance. 

    PERC H345 RAID controller

    n/a

    2 x 480 GB Mixed-Use SATA SSD RAID

    Because these servers are not expected to perform much I/O, mixed-use SATA SSDs configured with RAID 1 are sufficient for the operating system.

    Dell EMC iDRAC Enterprise

    n/a

    2 x 750 W power supply units (PSUs)

    n/a

    NVIDIA ConnectX-6 InfiniBand HCA (optional)

    HDR InfiniBand is likely to be the data interconnect of choice, which provides a high-throughput, low-latency fabric for node-to-node communications or to access Dell Technologies Validated Design Storage solutions. For small systems (four nodes or less), an Ethernet network may provide sufficient application performance.