An Anatomy of a Super Computer: A Look Inside Roadrunner


	An Anatomy of a Super Computer: A Look Inside Roadrunner

Silkweaver

6-18-2008 6:45 PM

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tags:

computing

Silkweaver says:

These creatures have a really very brief moment of glory, when we call them 'Super'. In less than a year it will be forgotten, outmatched by many.

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6-18-2008 10:33 PM

skwirlinator

Thanx - I find RoadRunner amazing and I am waiting for the other to overtake it.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/4d1c9a06-e8ea-4f19-b1c6-274de79fc89d/D1F96242-AD65-4A8D-A117-93905E2550C6/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list" href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list" style="font-size: 11px;">www.computerworld.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.computerworld.com/img/E83A46CD-CCC1-4B30-A8A9-EC3422A9A7D0" alt="IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list"><DIV class="image_caption">IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer, mapped out in this layout, takes up 6,000 square feet and weighs in at more than 500,000 pounds. <A href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085158&pageNumber=2" linkindex="193" set="yes">Click to view larger image.</A></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.computerworld.com/img/342CE430-B873-41F4-ADF7-0650A1655DAE" alt="Scalable Infiniband switches" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list"><DIV class="image_caption">This is one of four racks of scalable Infiniband switches that are part of the supercomputer. Beside the standalone switch racks, like the one shown here, Roadrunner also has one switch rack for each connected unit, which is made up of 180 TriBlades and 12 IO nodes. There are 18 connected units in the supercomputer. <A href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085158&pageNumber=3" linkindex="195">Click to view larger image.</A></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.computerworld.com/img/395D98F6-43EF-408A-BCAA-9F77D2B62131" alt="The back of a standalone switch rack" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009085021&intsrc=hm_list"><DIV class="image_caption">A full-length view of the back of a standalone switch rack. Roadrunner is being assembled in an IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. before it is disassembled and moved to its permanent home in the Los Alamos National Laboratory. <A href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085158&pageNumber=5" linkindex="199">Click to view larger image.</A></DIV></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085021&pageNumber=2" href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085021&pageNumber=2" style="font-size: 11px;">www.computerworld.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085021&pageNumber=2"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.computerworld.com/img/8D7E2070-1E2A-4B5C-A280-7FFB688C7730" alt="Roadrunner's racks extend more than three-fourths of the length of a football field." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085021&pageNumber=2">Roadrunner's racks extend more than three-fourths of the length of a football field.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085021&pageNumber=2"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.computerworld.com/img/1A76C561-AB18-4DEC-85BB-E8A9C7105010" alt="This is the back end of a TriBlade." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085021&pageNumber=2"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.computerworld.com/img/20CE62B2-11DD-44B9-A83A-FA8B4D1B7256" alt="Another view of the TriBlade." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085021&pageNumber=2"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.computerworld.com/img/708A2061-07D8-4C63-9C8B-8F8C7706860C" alt="The inside of a cell blade -- the QS22." /></div></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/D1F96242-AD65-4A8D-A117-93905E2550C6/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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