xCAT (Extreme Cloud Administration Toolkit) is open-source

distributed computing A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...

management software developed by IBM, used for the

deployment Deployment may refer to: Engineering and software Concepts * Blue-green deployment, a method of installing changes to a web, app, or database server by swapping alternating production and staging servers * Continuous deployment, a software e ...

and

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

AIX Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgi ...

based clusters.

Toolkit

xCAT can: * Create and manage diskless clusters * Install and manage many

cluster machines (physical or virtual) in parallel * Set up a high-performance computing software stack, including software for

batch job Computerized batch processing is a method of running software programs called jobs in batches automatically. While users are required to submit the jobs, no other interaction by the user is required to process the batch. Batches may automatically ...

submission, parallel libraries, and other software that is useful on a cluster *

Cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...

and

imaging Imaging is the representation or reproduction of an object's form; especially a visual representation (i.e., the formation of an image). Imaging technology is the application of materials and methods to create, preserve, or duplicate images. ...

Linux and Windows machines xCAT has specific features designed to take advantage of IBM hardware including: * Remote Power Control * Remote

POST Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

/ BIOS console * Serial over LAN functions * Hardware alerts and vitals provided via

SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet Standard protocol for collecting and organizing information about managed devices on IP networks and for modifying that information to change device behaviour. Devices that typically ...

and

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

* Inventory and hardware management xCAT achieved recognition in June 2008 for having been used with the

IBM Roadrunner Roadrunner was a supercomputer built by IBM for the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA. The US$100-million Roadrunner was designed for a peak performance of 1.7 petaflops. It achieved 1.026 petaflops on May 25, 2008, to become t ...

, which set a computing speed record at that time. xCAT is the default systems management tool of the

IBM Intelligent Cluster The IBM Intelligent Cluster was a cluster solution for x86-based high-performance computing composed primarily of IBM ( System x, BladeCenter and System Storage) components, integrated with network switches from various vendors and optional high- ...

solution. xCAT is used by Lenovo.

References

External links

xCAT Home Page

xCAT's documentation on ReadTheDocs
* {{SourceForge, xcat, xCAT (old releases)
xCAT on Github
Cluster computing Free software programmed in Perl Software using the Eclipse license IBM software