[openfabrics-ewg] OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution Proposal

Tue Apr 11 14:41:32 PDT 2006

Shawn,
It looks great and well polished,

Thanks,
Yaron

___________________________________________________________
Yaron Segev |   +972-9-9717650 (o)   |   +972-54-4996631 (m)
Director, Software Development
Voltaire - The Grid Backbone 
www.voltaire.com______________________________________________

> -----Original Message-----
> From: openfabrics-ewg-bounces at openib.org [mailto:openfabrics-ewg-
> bounces at openib.org] On Behalf Of Shawn Hansen (shahanse)
> Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 12:02 AM
> To: Openfabrics-ewg at openib.org
> Subject: [openfabrics-ewg] OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution
Proposal
> 
> All,
> 
> Thanks for meeting today.  Attendees included Cisco, Intel, Mellanox,
> Qlogic, Sandia, Silverstorm, and Voltaire.
> 
> Based on today's unanimous EWG decision, I've attached the proposal we
> want to propose to the board of directors tomorrow.  Please let me
know
> if you see any changes that need to be made.
> 
> Key points from today:
> 
> 1) "InfiniBand Enterprise Distribution" changed to "OpenFabrics
> Enteprise Distribution"
> 2) Emphasis placed on one release (OpenFabrics 1.0) and one
distribution
> (OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution).
> 3) Key reason for need for additional distribution is a) need to
include
> things outside scope of OpenFabrics release; and b) need to allow for
> additional long-term flexibility without "one-size-fits-all".
> 4) The key issues are communications issues.  We need to communicate
> this as soon as possible to minimize confusion.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Shawn Hansen
> Cisco Systems
> 
> ----------------------------------------------
> 
> The OpenFabrics Enterprise Working Group would like to propose the
> creation of the OpenFabrics Enteprise Distribution (OFED).
> 
> OFED would be a distribution of InfiniBand software that includes, or
is
> a superset of, the OpenFabrics 1.0 release, and adds other additional
> software outside of the scope of the OpenFabrics release, such as MPI.
> 
> Frequently Asked Questions
> --------------------------
> 
> Q: What is the Enterprise Working Group?
> 
> The EWG is a group of hardware vendors that will sell products based
on
> OpenFabrics.  The purpose of this group is to coordinate how to
provide
> a single commercially supportable distribution of OpenFabrics software
> to their customers that guarantees cross-vendor interoperability.
> 
> Q: Why is OFED required?
> 
> - Enterprise customers will have solution-level requirements that are
> outside the scope of the 1.0 release, such as the distribution of MPI
> stacks, support for pre-2.6.16 kernels, etc.  The goal of OFED is to
> address this need.  Without OFED, each InfiniBand vendor would create
> their own distribution of OpenFabrics to accomplish this goal, and may
> not be interoperable.
> 
> Q: Does OFED compete with the OpenFabrics release?
> 
> - No, there is only one OpenFabrics release.  OFED is a distribution
> that includes the OpenFabrics 1.0 release. The OpenFabrics 1.0 release
> and OFED share the same user-level code (libraries, management
> utilities, etc.)  The code for both is taken from the 1.0 branch.
> 
> Q: Is OFED development happening in the open?
> 
> - Yes, OFED uses the OpenFabrics bugzilla for bug reporting, and all
> discussions can be viewed on the Enterprise Working Group mailing
list.
> All OFED development is done on the 1.0 branch under the ibed
directory.
> Anyone can access release candidates, test them, observe bugs and
> discussions, report bugs, and comment.
> 
> Q: How does OFED differ from the OpenFabrics release?
> 
> - The OpenFabrics release contains only user-level code, while the
OFED
> distribution also adds InfiniBand kernel modules that are under
> OpenFabrics development, including modules that are not part of the
> kernel (like iSER, RDS, and SDP).
> 
> - OFED will include two MPI packages that are not part of Open
Fabrics:
> OSU MPI and Open MPI.
> 
> - OFED is packaged for end-user installation.
> 
> - OFED supports distribution with older kernels (e.g. Redhat EL4 up2)
> 
> Q: What is the software release process for OFED and how does it
relate
> to the OpenFabrics release?
> 
> The release build is done using the following method:
> 
> 1.  Any module that is already in the kernel will be taken from the
git
> tree that is targeted for next kernel release
> 
> 2.  Kernel modules that are not in Linux kernel will be taken from
> openFabrics SVN trunk or in extraordinary cases, from SVN contrib.
> 
> 3.  All user space code is taken from the 1.0 branch. OFED group will
> make sure the right patches from the trunk are updated to the branch.
> 
> 4.  MPI:
> Open MPI - Provided by OpenMPI developers.
> MVAPICH - Based on OSU release.
> Both tarballs are placed in OpenFabrics web site.
> 
> 5.  OFED build & install scripts: all relevant scripts are placed
under
> a specific directory for OFED release under the 1.0 branch.
> 
> 6.  Back port patches: patches directory will be also under the OFED
> directory in the 1.0 branch.
> 
> The release process:
> 
> The release coordinator will build the release candidate (OFED-rcX)
and
> publish it on OpenFabrics (approximately every 2 weeks).
> 
> Each OFED vendor is responsible to test the components under his
> ownership. Bugs are reported through bugzilla and fixes are provided
to
> the general list.
> 
> Q: What is the anticipated release schedule?
> 
> Mid-May
> 
> Q: What components will be included in OFED and how is this decided?
> 
> - Components will include:
> 
>  - HCA driver - mthca
>  - HCA driver - ipath
>  - Core
>  - IPoIB
>  - SDP
>  - RDS
>  - SRP initiator
>  - iSER initiator
>  - OSU MPI
>  - Open MPI
>  - uDAPL
>  - OpenSM
>  - Diagnostic tools
>  - Performance tests
> 
> The decision to include components is based on customer demand and
level
> of robustness and stability.  Components will be categorized in one of
> three ways:
> 
>   1) Basic: GA components that installed in a typical installation.
> 
>   2) Add-on: Components that can be installed optionally.
> 
>   3) Technology preview: Components where quality level is not GA, but
> can be used by customers for technology development.
> 
> Q: When bugs are found, how will they be fixed?
> 
> - Fixes to release candidates are coordinated by the OFED release
> coordinator and maintainers in a controlled fashion. Each bug found is
> first fixed on the trunk, and then merged into the release branch.
> 
> - Patches will be made available as RC updates, and fed back to
> OpenFabrics SVN continuously.
> 
> - Availability of patches will not be gated by acceptance of patches
> into OpenFabrics SVN.
> 
> - Urgent bug fixes can be directly delivered to customers by the
distros
> or vendors, but are rolled into a standard release as quickly as
> possible.  The goal is to ensure that fixes are standardized and make
it
> to the next general release.
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