A System Area Network Characterization in a Commercial Cluster

Commercial computer clusters have become an essential element in information system centers around the world. Cluster installations are now pervasive in the commercial marketplace. Clusters are deployed to provide both continuous availability and horizontal growth. Continuous availability is essential in mission critical applications where twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week availability is required for business survival. Horizontal growth provides both incremental expansion and increases in maximum capacity and performance. In order to continue to meet the customer cluster needs into the future, reductions in inter-system communication latencies are required. This thesis presents measured data collected from a client/server test environment using a commercially available IBM AS/400 computer. This measured data is then analyzed to identify inter-system communication latency bottlenecks. Finally, a System Area Network is proposed that reduces the inter-system communication latency. The proposed System Area Network provides increases in link bandwidth and reductions in transmission backpressure. This System Area Network provides a key component which will assist in improving the benefits of commercial clusters well into the next decade