BirgHPC is a software tool that allows users to easily create instant computing clusters for bioinformatics and molecular dynamics simulations using idle computing resources. It uses a head node to automatically configure and boot compute nodes from a netboot image, installing compilers, libraries and parallel bioinformatics applications. The clusters can be monitored using Ganglia and include job scripts, providing users with an easy to use HPC environment without extensive configuration. BirgHPC is open source and available for download online.

1. birgHPC Creating Instant Computing Clusters for Bioinformatics and Molecular Dynamics Chew Teong Han Bioinformatics Research Group Faculty of Biosciences & Bioengineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

2. bi rg Team

3. Introduction

4. Beowulf circa 1996 NASA/CESDIS US History

5. PS3s circa 2007 NCSU US

6. Tienhe-1A circa 2010 NSC China

7. Motivations

8. Daytime ~Full load Night time/ Holidays ~Idle

9. Solution + { something } = - - -

10. bi rg HPC +

11. Features Required only one CD/flash drive on head node

12. Use netboot image to boot compute nodes

13. Auto config of SSH, firewall, IP, apache, home directory detection, slots detection, …

14. Include parallel-enabled compilers, libraries

15. Include parallel-ready bioinformatics suite: Gromacs, NAMD, mpiBLAST & ClustalW-MPI

16. Ganglia cluster monitoring

17. Include job script