Infrastructure

Hardware Info and Physical Situation

The DEMAC cluster consists of 24 Parallella boards (9 with the z7020, fifteen with the z7010). Refer to the resources page for more information about the Parallella boards and their components.

Each board is fitted with a heat sink. The cluster has two levels. Each level has 3 columns of 4 boards with fans between the columns and on the ends, such that each level has 4 fans. Each column in each level has a casing containing a power supply under it, with holes for easy cable management. The power supplies under each column provide power for the four boards above them, while a power supply behind the cluster in its own casing supplies power for the fans. The rack itself, board holders, power supply casings, and fan casings are 3D printed. The casings and organization can be clearly seen for one level in the picture below.

Cluster Diagram

Each board has a wired ethernet connection to a Catalyst 2960 Series switch, enabling them to SSH into each other and use MPI for communication. The switch (which is connected to the internet) is also connected by ethernet to the cluster’s head node, which is a typical desktop running Ubuntu. The head node computer is used to issue commands to all of the nodes.

Below you will find images of the individual 3D printed components: board tray, rack, power supply case, and fan case in that order.