This section provides details and links to various software and Operating system distributions used by NARC to build clusters and other HPC Systems.

The UET Taxila Test Cluster is built using ROCKS distribution for High Performance Computing Clusters

We have also tried BCCD (Bootable Cluster CD) solution. It allows setting up a single node in less than 5 minutes. Furthermore if you have atleast 512 MB RAM per node, BCCD can run in RAM without using any hard drives!!!!!!!

NARC has recently implemented its first GRID deployment as an extension to existing Clustering infrastructure. Currently the Local Grid at NARC is setup to run SQUID and provides caching services on the Hostel Network.

In general NARC is using Windows Server 2003 R2 - Server Operating System on its enterprise servers. Windows Server 2003 R2 simplifies branch server management, improves identity and access management, reduces storage management costs, provides a rich Web platform, and offers cost-effective server virtualization.

On the workstations, NARC has standardised the implementation of Windows XP Professional Edition for the enterprise PCs.

NARC has also done test deployment of Windows Vista. In most cases, we found may flaws in the Operating System and till this point the OS is not dependable due to various bugs, bad implementation of TCP/IP (causes unreliable network performance), extremely slow Disk File System (What happend to Defragmenter?), poor software compatibility (Most software that worked on XP are no longer compatible), unavailability of device drivers (Modems, Flash Drives, CF-Card Readers, Network Adapters, Video Cards etc.) and slow overall operation.

NARC is collaborating with Novell for getting SUSE Linux on enterprise servers and PCs. In our trials of SUSE Linux and Windows Vista Ultimate on our laptops (Intel Centrino 1.7Ghz, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, 802.11 a/b/g, Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS,910GML video), we found SUSE Linux to be very user friendly, extremely stable and performs better than windows Vista Ultimate making efficient use of underlying hardware. The GNOME 3D desktop of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Operating System provides superior user experience than the crippled lagacy graphical user interface of Vista Ultimate (Aero is not enabled due to inavailability to suitable WDM driver for Vista from Intel/Microsoft.