Oracle's New Supercomputer Has 1,060 Raspberry Pis

An anonymous reader quotes Tom's Hardware: One Raspberry Pi can make a nice web server, but what happens if you put more than 1,000 of them together? At Oracle's OpenWorld convention on Monday, the company showed off a Raspberry Pi Supercomputer that combines 1,060 Raspberry Pis into one powerful cluster.

According to ServeTheHome, which first reported the story, the supercomputer features scores of racks with 21 Raspberry Pi 3 B+ boards each. To make everything run well together, the system runs on Oracle Autonomous Linux... Every unit connects to a single rebranded Supermicro 1U Xeon server, which functions as a central storage server for the whole supercomputer. The Oracle team also created custom, 3D printed brackets to help support all the Pis and connecting components...

ServeTheHome asked Oracle why it chose to create a cluster of Raspberry Pis instead of using a virtualized Arm server and one company rep said simply that "...a big cluster is cool."

So where's their blackmail potential?

[Kobun]

Since this is Oracle, my first thought is asking "how does this let them screw their customers even more?" Maybe they've got it doing statistical analysis on phone-home data to guess which companies are using an unlicensed feature. Anyone?

Re:So where's their blackmail potential?

[Waffle Iron]

Since this is Oracle, my first thought is asking "how does this let them screw their customers even more?"

Per-CPU licensing fees!

selling $10,000 for $10,000,000

[swschrad]

Larry's going to buy another Hawaiian island! and populate it with the Linux licensing fees!

RPI Private Server

[FrankGerlachDev]

If you want to be in control of your data and your online publishing, run your own Private Server: http://altwissenschaft.ddnss.d... [ddnss.de] One of the translation services will produce a good enough English version.

1,060 Raspberry Pis?

[DontBeAMoran]

I'm sorry Oracle, that's 36 too many.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

One may be wondering why there are 1060 Raspberry Pi 3B+ nodes, not an even 1024. We were told at the show that it was based on the physical dimensions of the solution along with having spares “just in case.”

Well, okay then. Carry on.

Nah

[FrankGerlachDev]

1060 is an Oracle-patented "Ubreakable Number" !

Re:

[JaredOfEuropa]

Those are the license management servers.

Re:1,060 Raspberry Pis?

[jwhyche]

I really have underestimated Raspberry Pis. I have always thought them to be toys suited for little more than hobby work and game emulators. Not good for any serous work. Is this thing, the 1060 Pi cluster, really a viable system? Would ti compete with a x86 cluster of the same number of nodes?

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Is this thing, the 1060 Pi cluster, really a viable system? Would ti compete with a x86 cluster of the same number of nodes?

No, and no. You should put those questions in a Slashdot headline. It takes too much glue for too little return. At least the power consumption for this folly is low, though.

Re:

[mobby_6kl]

What makes you think it's a viable system and it's not just a PR stunt? Sure the latest Pi isn't an arduino but you're almost certainly better off with a few Xeon or Threadripper machines.

Re: 1,060 Raspberry Pis?

[cthulhu11]

Only fitting 21 into a 42+ RU rack is bizarre.

Wut ?

[FrankGerlachDev]

Just 20 years ago a 100MHz PA RISC CPU with 64MByte of RAM was considered "a big workstation". Now a 700MHz, 512 Mbyte RAM machine is a "toy" ? Get a grip. And stop using Sloware. Give tcc a try.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

+5 insightful.

I tell ya, kids these days...

Re:

[Cederic]

They are "greener" than Intel or AMD on power consumption when you consider the output.

You are however paying for an awfully large amount of unnecessary circuitry and supplementary components.

Take the same chip in the pi and fit it to a custom motherboard that fits 16 of them and your green credentials would feel stronger.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

That's what the Compute Modules [raspberrypi.org] are for.
Companies and tinkerers can make their own motherboards.

Re:

[skovnymfe]

If you want to do serious large scale research, no, this isn't going to be strong enough. But if you want to research super computing itself, you can probably find something to do with 1060 nodes.

Re:

[Agripa]

Is this thing, the 1060 Pi cluster, really a viable system? Would ti compete with a x86 cluster of the same number of nodes?

The power efficiency on the latest Pi is *worse* than x86 so not only does the Pi have worse peak single threaded performance but it also has worse power efficiency. And because of the design which precludes good cooling, it cannot even sustain its best single threaded performance without throttling.

Re:

[TeknoHog]

It's almost as fast as a single GTX 1060.

wheeeee free marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

So they literally did something for no reason other than marketing at a trade show and now there's an article on Slashdot.

When Los Alamos did it, there was a good reason (to test programs before running on their $$$ supercomputer). This masturbation exercise should never have been reported on.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

They did hit three slashdot-worthy requirements:
- Raspberry Pi
- 3D printing
- Cluster

They could have hit four, but I guess 9216 Raspberry Pis was too many.

Re:

[PolygamousRanchKid]

They did hit three slashdot-worthy requirements: - Raspberry Pi - 3D printing - Cluster

My Raspberry Pi cluster OS is better. Because it includes all of the above, plus:
- Iot
- Blockchain
- AI

I hope I am not missing anything.

Re:wheeeee free marketing

[Crashmarik]

Bittorrent
Solar Powered
Orange Man Bad.

Re:

[AHuxley]

Needs extra green words like solar power.

Re:

[Joce640k]

So they literally did something for no reason other than marketing at a trade show

You can bet they were looking at using these as servers and licensing per-CPU.

Upgrade

[stabiesoft]

to pi 4 for the next iteration, the 3 is so yesterday.

Meh

[FrankGerlachDev]

The RPI 4 now challenges intel on the heat generation issue. Many applications will want the power-efficient ones:
http://altwissenschaft.ddnss.d... [ddnss.de]

Re:

[kot-begemot-uk]

Both of them suck on power to performance ratio. You can get much better power per watt, multiple times the amount of memory per node as well as proper 1Gbit networking from AMD thin clients. I bought a stack of HP T620 last time I needed to build a test cluster. It is nowhere as compact as Pis, but you can test both normal CPU stuff and GPU stuff too (it has a Radeon supported by OpenCL). And once you are done with using them for work they can "drop off the back of a lorry" and be reused for something l

Re:

[Cederic]

Did you just confess to fraud using a personally identifiable account?

Re:

[AHuxley]

Got 1060 small fans?

Imagine

[alvinrod]

Imagine a Slashdot where people were posting about a Beowulf cluster of these. Nearly half an hour in and I’m the first. Almost sad enough to make a fellow cry in his hot grits.

Re:

[mi]

Seconded...

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Except it should have been BEAwulf [wikipedia.org]...

Re:

[pezpunk]

aww i only clicked to post a beowulf joke. high five.

Re:

[Nighttime]

I propose the name for this many small board computers is "Clustered Pi", but that may be too in your face.

Re:

[sconeu]

Came here to imagine a Beowulf cluster of them...

But does it run Linux?

Re:

[DrMrLordX]

Apparently, yes.

Re:

[CODiNE]

Hot grits without petrified Natalie Portman?? What's happened to this place?

Re:

[Zack]

Some things never change.... for better or for worse.

I hope to see the same stupid jokes 20 years from now.

Re:

[Trogre]

Do we still get to laugh at the Iraqi Information Minister's daily reports?

why oracle linux ?

[carlosap]

They should port solaris to arm, that old friend was really cool.

OpenBSD

[FrankGerlachDev]

I heard there is an RPI port: http://undeadly.org/cgi?action... [undeadly.org]

How big is that wall wart?

[Blinkin1200]

It must be the size of a Volkswagen bus.

 

Re:

[guruevi]

1060 * 5W = 5.3kW or about 2-3 server power supplies, you could easily fit it in about 1U rack space.

Re:

[JaredOfEuropa]

It is the wall...

Re:

[Waffle Iron]

No need for a power supply; they can just use all the wall warts that came with the cards. If they take a couple of hundred of six-position outlet strips and connect them as a tree four layers deep, they could accommodate all the little power adapters. It would be a bit of a tripping hazard, though.

The new Oracle

[John Brown]

Waking up? Just before larry dead.

Act now!

[pi_rules]

Due to the magic of installing Oracle Linux it is now valued at $78 million and requires a $100k/month support contract.

Act now before the deal expires! Larry needs a new Mig.

Re:

[Cederic]

It's a while since I had to negotiate with Oracle but I think you're a little overboard on the support contract there.

Even assuming the top-tier linux support costs and a mere 76% discount you'd only be looking at $48k/month.

Basic support and a 90% discount would come in at under $2k/month for the cluster.

"...a big cluster is cool."

[drinkypoo]

"...a big cluster is cool."

No number of raspis can make Oracle cool.

Think how a Beowulf cluster ... errrm nevermind.

[Qbertino]

eom

well that explains...

[afaiktoit]

why they're always out of stock!

Per core license

[Njovich]

Better not install Oracle database on that thing, licensing would likely be around the size of the GDP of a medium size country.

Only 21 Raspberry Pis per rack?

[Cmdln Daco]

I would think you'd be able to fit that many on a rack tray, and then 8-15 trays on a rack. But then I'm not Oracle. They probably need a stand-along X86 processor for each RPi to manage it's license.

Re:

[CanadianMacFan]

I looked at the article because of the wording. I couldn't believe it was that few per rack. Turns out it is 23 per each 2u custom printed module.

so... how fast was it?

[Dallas May]

It seems the most important question for a supercomputer closer -how fast it was- is unfortunately missing.

Re:

[iggymanz]

because those ARM in the pi are dog slow

one ARM in the top 500 right now... might change over time

Re:

[Dallas May]

I wouldn't expect this to cross the 500 realm, but still. Would be fun to know. (Probably not really fast at all.)

Wrong

[FrankGerlachDev]

Software has become dog-slow. RPI hardware is actually quite potent. When I learned programming, we had Turbo Pascal on an 8Mhz 80286. It compiled one-page programs in two seconds. Nowadays you can run gcc on a 700MHz RPI with 512MByte RAM and it will take 20s. Or run tcc and be done in half a second.
Just because there is lots of Sloware, does not mean the RPI is slow.

Re:

[iggymanz]

haha, tcc is a very simple implementation that doesn't do optimization or many other things gcc can.

ARM is pathetically slow running the same software as Power or xenon x86-64. that's why 499 of the top 500 supercomputers aren't using it.

Not compute modules...

[Misagon]

The Raspberry Pi foundation makes a Compute Module [raspberrypi.org] for just this type of things, but nooo....

Re:

[jabuzz]

Because the compute module does not have an ethernet interface would likely be the main reason.

Reddish pink cloud computer with lots of seeds

[Scott Johnston]

Amazon purchased it for a special cloud platform to sell by the slice.

Imagine

[q_e_t]

A beowu... oh, it is.

So racking what

[dsgrntlxmply]

This type of construction is entirely routine in at-scale test racks for telecom equipment. Apart from the fact that it uses a popular hobby device and is color coordinated in blue (including the crooked top rack tie strap), and is especially fun to snipe at, it is of no significance.

Just imagine a Beowulf cluster of those.

[Tough Love]

Oh wait, it is almost certainly a Beofwulf cluster. Firmly in the stunt zone. What a stupid waste of time and effort. Can we haz moar Java Naow?

They need help

[AndyKron]

Big cluster is cool? Someone please put this person out of their misery.