Cluster Management GUI

Bright Cluster Manager® includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that was designed to make cluster management really easy, also for people with minimal Linux or HPC knowledge. It offers a single and consistent interface to all available cluster management functionalities. It does not depend on third-party GUIs — such as for monitoring or system automation. Even the workload management software can be controlled by Bright Cluster Manager's native GUI.

Intuitive Interface

The picture above shows the layout of a typical GUI screen with the following elements: 1. Menu bar; 2. Resources tree; 3. Tabs; 4. Main area; 5. Event viewer. When you click on an element in the resources tree, the screen area on the right shows the tabs relevant for that element. This behavior is consistent throughout the GUI.

Layout of a typical screen in the cluster management GUI.

The cluster management GUI was designed to offer an interface that is intuitive and easy to use for beginners, while not compromising on efficiency and completeness for experienced users. The picture below shows the layout of a typical GUI screen with the following elements:

1. Menu bar
2. Resources tree
3. Tabs
4. Main area
5. Event viewer

When you click on an element in the resources tree, the screen area on the right shows the tabs relevant for that element. This behavior is consistent throughout the GUI.

Multi-User & Multi-Cluster

The GUI can manage multiple clusters at different locations — you could simultaneously manage your clusters in Houston, Abu Dhabi, and Oslo from your laptop. Each cluster will then be shown separately in the resources tree. In this screenshot you can see that the cluster "Seismic Houston" is connected (see left in the resources tree and right with the green light). The clusters "Seismic Abu Dhabi" and "Seismic Oslo" are registered with the GUI, but not yet connected.

The GUI can manage multiple clusters at different locations.

The cluster management GUI is a multi-user and multi-cluster GUI. Multiple cluster administrators can have their own login account for the GUI, with appropriate permissions being fully configurable for each administrator.

Furthermore, the GUI can manage multiple clusters at different locations — you could simultaneously manage your clusters in Houston, Abu Dhabi, and Oslo from your laptop (see screenshot on the right). Each cluster will then be shown separately in the resources tree.

Standalone Desktop Application

The cluster management GUI is a stand-alone desktop application. This means that a cluster administrator installs the application on a local desktop PC or laptop and then connects to one or more clusters. It can also be run on the head node of the cluster. The GUI is available natively for Linux and Windows, but can be used on other operating systems, such as Apple OS X, using X forwarding or similar methods.

The GUI is built using XULXUL (XML User Interface Language) is Mozilla's XML-based language that lets you build feature-rich cross platform applications that can run connected or disconnected from the Internet. (pronounced "zool") and JavaScript. XUL (XML User Interface Language) is Mozilla's XML-based language that is used in, for example, Firefox and Thunderbird. The GUI connects to the Cluster Management Daemon on the cluster's head node over encrypted connections.