Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!uwovax.UWO.CDN!BRENT From: BRENT@uwovax.UWO.CDN.UUCP Newsgroups: mod.computers.vax Subject: new cluster suggestions... Message-ID: <0537612435@uwovax.UWO.CDN> Date: Wed, 14-Jan-87 08:47:15 EST Article-I.D.: uwovax.0537612435 Posted: Wed Jan 14 08:47:15 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 15-Jan-87 18:47:46 EST Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 42 Approved: info-vax@sri-kl.arpa It seems likely that our site will be acquiring a second vax in the next few months. We currently have an 8600 with an HSC, a tri-pack of RA-81s (1 system, 2 in a public structure), and one tape drive. The new system will probably add a quad pack of ra-81s, one more tape drive, and the processor will likely be an 8550. If this goes ahead, there will be strong political forces at work trying to segregate Computer Science students from researchers. (Other catagories of users will fall onto one machine or the other.) Such an arrangement of course defeats a big advantage of a cluster. Yet there are brief periods (eg end of term) when CS students can severely impact research, unless some segregation takes place. I would like to use VMS in some way to "softly" segregate these user populations. So that segregation can be turned on and off as necessary. 45 weeks of the year the cluster would be available to all in an integrated manner, but when the crunch or complaints comes, all future logins get segregated. My question to all you system managers out there is, how do I accomplish this in a flexible manner. Now is the time for planning, not when the machine arrives. Have any of you done this sort of thing before? How successful were you? The other question pertains to disk (structures). 2 RA-81 drives bound together works very well, but more than 2 make me nervous. I'm seeking suggestions on managing the additional 4 disks. One thought which comes to mind is to put researchers on another 2 pack structure, the rest of the academic centre on a single disk, and to keep one (in the short term at least) for me personally (I am the system manager after all :-). Actually I could migrate that disk where needed and as needed, with me moving wherever space is available. Note that at this site, shadowing is not a serious issue. It's nice, but we just don't require that degree of availability (or performance). Thanks for any thoughts you may have on the subject. Brent. -- Brent Sterner Lord Protector, d i g i t a l Systems Computing & Communications Services Natural Sciences Building The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7 Telephone (519)661-2151 x6036 Network ! VAX 8600 ! IBM 4341