Overview of IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC

IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC redefines cluster virtualization and workload management by providing a tightly integrated solution that can increase both user productivity and hardware utilization while decreasing system management costs.

The following LSF suites offerings are available:
IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for Enterprise and IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for Enterprise Plus
  • No node or job limits
  • Full multicluster capabilities, including sending and receiving jobs
  • Resource connector enabled
IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC
  • Limited to 1024 nodes and 250000 jobs
  • Full multicluster capabilities, including sending and receiving jobs
  • Resource connector enabled
IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for Workgroups
  • Limited to 128 nodes and 25000 jobs
  • Multicluster capabilities for only sending jobs to full LSF clusters
  • Resource connector disabled

Additionally, the LSF suites RPM installer and system monitoring are features available as part of the LSF suites offerings.

The IBM Spectrum Cluster Foundation Community Edition is an optional, free, but non-supported feature that is available for download.

The following LSF products are available as separate, individual offerings from LSF suites:
  • IBM Spectrum LSF Standard
  • IBM Spectrum LSF Application Center
  • IBM Spectrum LSF Explorer
  • IBM Spectrum LSF Data Manager
  • IBM Spectrum LSF Process Manager
  • IBM Spectrum LSF License Scheduler

IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC provides a tightly integrated solution for high performance computing environments for cluster virtualization and workload management.

IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC delivers new capabilities to boost both user productivity and hardware utilization while decreasing system management costs. IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC supports traditional high-performance computing and high-throughput workloads, as well as big data, cognitive, GPU machine learning, and containerized workloads on IBM Power (LE) and 64-bit x86 Linux systems.

Optimized utilization

IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC is optimized for on-premises or hybrid cloud environments that run both high-throughput serial jobs and large-scale parallel workloads. Flexible scheduling policies enable you to readily adapt to changing workload requirements, optimize utilization of compute resources, and speed time to solution.

Integrated user interface and enhanced reporting

IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC features a fully integrated user experience to enable you to quickly and effectively run your workloads in the most productive manner.

Define application templates to simplify how users interact with the system. Your users no longer need to learn the complexities of a particular application. They can simply fill in the custom form and click submit their work. Output from applications can be readily visualized by remote desktops and charting of outputs. The GUI is readily extendable, enabling sites to plug-in their own custom screens or third-party views.

Role-based access control ensures that your users have access only to the applications and information for which they are authorized. Users can also monitor the status of their workload, and be alerted to any issues, from their mobile device. iOS and Android are both supported.

IBM Spectrum LSF Suite for HPC includes an integrated reporting solution that leverages Elastic Search. Administrators can quickly define reports and dashboards to report on cluster and resource use to both users and management.