An Evaluation of Inter-Switch Connections

摘要

In very large clusters it is not possible to get Ethernet-switches that are large enough to support the whole cluster, thus a configuration with multiple switches are needed. This work seeks to evaluate the interconnection strategies for a new 300+ CPU cluster at the University of Southern Denmark. The focal point is a very inexpensive switch from D-Link which unfortunately offers only 24 Gb ports. We investigate different inter-switch connections and their impact at application level.