I'm on the hunt for alternatives to Xcat, the cluster management software. If anyone has recommendations or experiences with other tools that can fulfill similar roles, I'd love to hear them!
3 Answers
I'm a bit curious here too. What exactly does Xcat do? I've heard of xCAT, but can't find much info on it or if it's the same as what you’re asking about.
If you're looking at cluster management software, it really depends on your needs. There's a Lenovo-sponsored project called Confluent, which is the successor to Xcat. However, for just provisioning nodes, Warewulf tends to be the easiest solution out there. Just a heads up, NVIDIA's Bright cluster manager has become more expensive recently, so it's mainly intended for their bundled solutions now.
I’d steer clear of Confluent if possible. The documentation is pretty lacking, and there isn’t much of a community for support. I think Warewulf is likely the best bet since it has a bigger user base. There's also a newer project called OpenCHAMI, but it's a bit overcomplicated.
You could also look into Slurm. It might fit your needs depending on what you're trying to achieve with your cluster!
You might be referring to this project: https://github.com/mstrand/xcat. It's pretty much the main reference for xCAT.