▷ the Bright blog

We are honored to join NVIDIA’s DGX-Ready Software program. This program delivers proven enterprise-grade solutions that increase data science productivity, accelerate AI workflows, and improve deployment, accessibility, and utilization of AI infrastructure. Purpose-built for AI, NVIDIA DGX systems can be managed in clusters by Bright Cluster Manager, the smart choice for a wide variety of use cases.

We are delighted that San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) has chosen Bright Computing to host their next tech talk as part of the SDSC Technology Forum. 

At Bright, we are well aware of the increasing amount of complexity that is brought about by the evolution of the HPC industry. Complexity is a problem that we solve every day, for our broad spectrum of customers.

Bucknell University, a private liberal arts college located in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, has modernized its approach to managing their high-performance computing (HPC) cluster and is now using Bright Cluster Manager to provide consistency, ease-of-use, and the ability to easily extend its on-premise cluster to the cloud.

Those of you who are familiar with Bright probably know that CMSH is the Cluster Management Shell. The CMSH is one of the two administrative interfaces provided by Bright Cluster Manager, the other being Bright View. Most people start off using Bright View, because it’s easy to use. But in time, most admins learn how to use the CMSH because of its power; it allows them to operate on many nodes simultaneously. Here are a couple of tips that will make your use of CMSH more enjoyable.

Since my inaugural post for the Bright blog back in July 2019, we’ve seen our HPC business grow at a healthy rate; thanks in no small part to our partnership with Bright Computing. It’s worth noting that since the global pandemic took hold, the number of inbound inquiries to X-ISS has grown considerably, as organizations are seeking an X-ISS / Bright solution to help them stay on top of demanding research projects in this tough business climate.

Recently I was part of a sales call with a prospect when he commented that a server manufacturer was proposing to include their own cluster manager product in the system they were selling. The prospect asked us, “Do you know why they want to include their own cluster software?  Vendor lock-in, that’s why!” he said.  I was a little startled by his directness.  But it is true, and it feels a bit like a dirty little secret that some providers keep from their customers.  Being locked into a particular vendor carries a great deal of emotion (especially in the high-tech sector) because organizations work very hard to ensure they have choice and flexibility in their business.  But what does this have to do with Bright Computing?  My answer is plenty!

In my last couple of posts I’ve talked about High Performance Computing in the cloud. Specifically about extending your compute clusters to take advantage of additional compute resources when needed without having to invest in all the hardware, software, etc to take care of short term demand for additional capacity.

When we launched the Bright “Easy8” program and our BEACON user community in November last year, we took the unprecedented step of making Bright Cluster Manager free for clusters up to 8 nodes. This empowered organizations to reap the benefits of our mature commercial cluster management system at no charge.

For many years, Bright has been a regular participant and contributor to Dell’s HPC Community Meetings, so I was saddened that these physical events – like all other HPC industry events – have been put on hold for the foreseeable future. They present such a great networking opportunity, enabling customers and partners to connect and giving us all a platform to share our vision for the HPC industry. With so many of us mostly home-based, I think we are all missing face-to-face contact with our HPC peers.