HP XC System Software Administration Guide Version 3.2

C Setting Up MPICH

MPICH, as described on its web address, http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich1/, is a freely

available portable implementation of MPI.

This appendix provides the information you need to set up MPICH on an HP XC system. The

topics are as follows:

• “Downloading the MPICH Source Files” (page 309)

• “Building MPICH on the HP XC System” (page 309)

• “Running the MPICH Self-Tests” (page 310)

• “Installing MPICH” (page 310)

See the HP XC System Software User's Guide for information on using MPICH.

C.1 Downloading the MPICH Source Files

You can obtain a compressed tar file (also known as a tar ball) of the MPICH source files from

its web address:

http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich1

NOTE: Review the information on this web address. It provides license information, patches,

release information, documentation, and implementation notes.

Alternatively, you can use the direct link to download the MPICH compressed tar file:

http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich/downloads/mpich.tar.gz.

Allow at least 16 megabytes of disk space for the compressed tar file.

C.2 Building MPICH on the HP XC System

Use the following procedure to build MPICH on the head node of the HP XC system:

1. Log in to the head node as superuser (root).

2. Use the df command to locate a file system with sufficient disk space to hold the MPICH

files. You require 80 megabytes or more.

NOTE: Ideally, share this file system among the nodes in the HP XC system that will be

used for MPICH jobs. See “Mounting Internal File Systems Throughout the HP XC System”

(page 217) for more information.

3. Create a directory for the unpacked MPICH files. It is good practice to incorporate the version

number into the directory name:

# cd /filesystem

# mkdir mpich-version

4. Unpack the compressed tar file by executing the following command:

# tar xzvf mpich.tar.gz

5. Execute the following command to configure MPICH:

# /bin/env RSHCOMMAND=ssh ./configure -prefix=/opt/mpich --with-device=ch_p4

C.1 Downloading the MPICH Source Files 309