This paper considers the applicability of a "commercial" operating system, HP-UX 11.0, in a "technical" environment, such as an HP V-Class system acting as a server for Mechanical Design Automation in the automotive industry. It focuses on the kernel configuration issues that result, and general management strategies. It comments on the differences arising from the change from SPP-UX for technical servers, to HP-UX, in terms of different functionality.
Also covered is the use of a commercially-available job scheduler, LSF (from Platform Computing), tied to a large network of heterogeneous Unix workstations. As well as the architecture of the LSF cluster design, consideration is given to the use of standard LSF features to achieve simple but effective balancing of server resource requirements. A description is given of the GUI interface written for simple job submission, which allows novice users to submit and monitor jobs through the LSF interface.
Lastly, the performance of the V-Class on Finite Element codes such as MSC/NASTRAN and HKS ABAQUS will be covered, including the results of a new matrix re-ordering scheme recently implemented for HP. Figures will be given which compare the new V-Class server with the S-Class.