Setting up the NT cluster for mpich installation
Installing MPICH for Windows NT
Compiling the examples, running and testing the installation
Setting up the NT cluster for mpich installation
The first step in the installation of mpich for a Windows NT cluster of computers is to set up networking correctly on the NT cluster. In this example the cluster consists of one master and three nodes (node2, node3, node4) all dual-processor pentium III based systems. The master has two fast-ethernet cards and the three nodes one each. Ensure during the Windows NT set up phase that TCP/IP, and NETBUI are installed, and that the network is started, with all the network cards detected and the correct drivers installed. The figures below show how to configure the two ethernet cards on the master. As shown below the Computer
Name for the master is MASTER and it belongs to the Workgroup NTLINUXDB. The name is so chosen as this is a dual-boot NT-LINUX cluster. This window is obtained from the Control Panel by double clicking on Network. Next as shown in the figure
above select Protocols and IP Address for the first adapter. The master has an IP address of 10.0.0.1, node2 10.0.0.2, node3 10.0.0.3, and node4 10.0.0.4. The nodes are named NODE2, NODE3, and NODE4, and are in the same Workgroup NTLINUXDB. Then as shown in the figure below select the second adapter that connects to the internet and LAN and set the IP address, mask and gateway. These are typical of your LAN or network service provider.
This done set the DNS on the master as shown below. Note the process for the nodes will be the same except that there will be only one adapter, and the DNS Service Seach Order is left blank. Make sure that nothing is checked or entered in WINS Address and Routing in the master and nodes. Now reboot the computers in the cluster.
The next step is to set up sharing and to map the network drives in the master, node2, node3, and node4. This is shown in the figure below.
Highlight drive C under desktop for the master and right click. Select sharing and a screen shown on the right in the figure above will open. Click on New Share and enter a share name of C. Click OK, and Master will share drive C with all others in the same Workgroup as C. Repeat for the nodes each time using the terminal for the nodes. When this is complete click on Network Neighborhood, and expand Master, Node2, Node3, and Node4. It will look exactly as is shown in the figure at bottom left above. At this stage the installation of MPICH for NT can begin. DO NOT attempt to install MPICH for NT untill the computers are correctly networked and the drives are shared.
Installing MPICH for Windows NT
Next download mpich for windows NT (mpich.nt.1.2.1.zip for souce: mpich.nt.1.2.1.src.exe) unzip it to a temproary folder and click on Setup.exe. Select the default installation directory when prompted. It is advisable to have Microsoft Visual C++, and Digital Visual Fortran 5.0 or higher already installed before installing MPICH for NT. Note this has to be done on all the computers in the cluster. The compilers can reside only on the master, or anywhere else. What is important are the executibles created. In this case Microsoft Developer Studio 97 (5.0) with VB and Digital Visual Fortran 50.0 was installed with VS97 service pack 3. The windows NT installation on all the computers in the cluster had NT sevice pack 6a installed. After the installation of the mpich.nt.1.2.1 files the startup and directory structure will look typically as shown in the figures below.
Note the location of the file MPIRun in the bin directory above. This the main MPIRun file for all jobs. There are several ways this can be invoked. The method described below is easiest and typically works best. It depends on a configuration file called Mpi_conf in this case, also in the bin directory above. Before the jobs are run the MPI Configuration Tool is started, and its location is shown in the figure above. The tool when invoked creates a window shown below.
Select all the computers as shown above that you want to use. Next click on Set and the MPICH Registry Settings window opens, as shown above. Enter the directory and timeout as shown above and check the three boxes. Click on OK. This completes the configuration of the MPICH-NT installation.
Compiling the examples, running and testing the installation
Several examples are provided in the SDK directory shown above for the MPICH.NT.1.2.1 installation. A typical compilation, and screenshot of the MANDEL example is shown below, in Microsoft Visual C++.
For each example the executibles are copied in the directory mpi-exe on the master and the nodes (all the executibles must have the same path on all the computers in the cluster) as shown below.
After this all that needs to be is done is to set the Mpi_conf file that resides only on the master. This is shown below.
The settings in this file is critical: The first line shows the path for the executible. The next indicates the hosts and the number of processes on each to be run. With this the use of the traditional -np option is redundant. Then running MPIRun from the master with this configuration file for the CPI example produces an output as shown below.
If the cpi.exe name in the MPI_CONF file is replaced by say mandel.exe the following screen is seen.
This completes the testing of the mpich for NT installation.