Sun Grid Engine (SGE) 6.2 Update 3 introduces new features and incorporates many bug fixes. Touted as "the evolutionary step of the Sun Grid Engine product towards cloud computing," this new update incorporates the Service Domain Manager (SDM) Cloud Adapter that provides an interface to manage Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Amazon Machine Images (AMI), supporting cloud-only and hybrid (local+cloud) Sun Grid Engine environments.

NEW FEATURES

Amazon EC2 Adapter

The Service Domain Manager (SDM) adds connectivity to Amazon Elastic Cloud EC2 and the ability to flexibly add execution hosts as needed on demand.

Initial Power Saving Support

A new power saving scheme in SDM enables the creation of a special resource spare pool in which systems can be powered on or off when added or removed from this spare pool.

Service Domain Manager (SDM) Simple Install

It is now possible to install and run an SDM system with only one JVM per (managed or master) host. Previously, the system was using up to three separate JVMs per host. This new feature simplifies installation, configuration and maintenance.

SGE Inspect

A new Java based Sun Grid Engine Inspect module allows to monitor SGE clusters and the Service Domain Manager (SDM). The similarity to VisualVM or NetBeans is not coincidental.

Exclusive Host Scheduling

Exclusive host scheduling allows users to request that jobs and parallel tasks run exclusively on a host if allowed by an administrator.

Microsoft Windows Vista Display Support

The display_win_gui feature is now fully supported. This feature allows a job to launch a GUI on the currently visible desktop on the Windows host that displays job information. This works only if the job is a native Windows application.

"As always, you may test this release in parallel with your old cluster to try out the new features," advises Lubomir Petrik on his blog. "Optionally, you may use the upgrade procedure (clone configuration method) to install SGE 6.2u3, while keeping all your other cluster configuration settings."

Petrik also suggests taking a look at an upgrade video that covers moving from version 6.1 to 6.2; however, he explains that it will work the same way for cloning any 6.0u2 or later to 6.2u3.

Software Installation

One of the following is required:

• The complete distribution with an approximate filesize of 775MB (select All supported platforms) which contains all files and modules in tar.gz format.

• Or, at least one architecture specific package that is needed for the environment

Licensing and Evaluation

Something to consider is obtaining a valid SGE license. This ensures supported binaries such as the new Amazon EC2 adapter and the SGE Inspect modules beyond the 30-day evaluation period that is permitted for users wanting to try out the new SGE release. A license or subscription is required after that time.

During the 30-day trial, downloaders can receive free email support for this release for help on installing and adjusting the software to a particular environment. A Sun Grid Engine evaluation questionnaire is required to be completed in order to qualify for this service. The questionnaire is linked on the SGE\'s dowload site.

More Information

Download

Release Notes

More on Features

Sun Grid Engine Product Page

Beginner\'s Guide to Sun Grid Engine 6.2 - Installation and Configuration White Paper [...read more...]

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