HP XC System Software User's Guide Version 3.2

1 Overview of the User Environment
The HP XC system is a collection of computer nodes, networks, storage, and software, built into
a cluster, that work together. It is designed to maximize workload and I/O performance, and to
provide the efficient management of large, complex, and dynamic workloads.
This chapter addresses the following topics:
• “System Architecture” (page 23)
• “User Environment” (page 27)
• “Application Development Environment” (page 28)
• “Run-Time Environment” (page 29)
• “Components, Tools, Compilers, Libraries, and Debuggers” (page 31)
1.1 System Architecture
The HP XC architecture is designed as a clustered system with single system traits. From a user
perspective, this architecture achieves a single system view, providing capabilities such as the
following:
• Single user login
• Single file system namespace
• Integrated view of system resources
• Integrated program development environment
• Integrated job submission environment
1.1.1 HP XC System Software
The HP XC System Software enables the nodes in the platform to run cohesively to achieve a
single system view. You can determine the version of the HP XC System Software from the
/etc/hptc-release file.
$ cat /etc/hptc-release
HP XC V#.# RCx PKn date
Where:
#.#
Is the version of the HP XC System Software
RCx
Is the release candidate of the version.
PKnn
Indicates there was a cumulative patch kit for the HP XC System Software installed.
For example, if PK02 appears in the output, it indicates that both cumulative patch kits
PK01 and PK02 have been installed.
This field is blank if no patch kits are installed.
date Is the date (in yyyymmdd format) the software was released.
1.1.2 Operating System
The HP XC system is a high-performance compute cluster that runs HP XC Linux for High
Performance Computing Version 1.0 (HPC Linux) as its software base. Any serial or thread-parallel
applications, or applications built shared with HP-MPI that run correctly on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux Advanced Server Version 3.0, also run correctly on HPC Linux.
1.1.3 Node Platforms
The HP XC System Software is available on several platforms. You can determine the platform
by examining the top few fields of the /proc/cpuinfo file, for example, by using the head
command:
1.1 System Architecture 23