Myrinet GM-1 Software
for AIX

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Binary | Source

The AIX GM software is distributed in both source and binary forms, and supports PowerPCs running AIX 4.3 or AIX 5.1.

Note: PowerPC 64 is not supported in this release.

Recommended-version GM Binary Downloads for AIX
NIC
Operating System / Architecture PCI64B and PCI64C
(Lanai 9)		 PCI64 and PCI64A
(Lanai 7)
AIX 4.3 or 5.1 for Power PC GM-1.6.4 for AIX 4.3 or 5.1 GM-1.6.4 for AIX 4.3 or 5.1

Note: These GM binaries assume the use of Lanai9 or Lanai7 NICs. Lanai4 NICs are not supported.

Abbreviated Binary Installation Instructions

Please be sure to read the README files (README and README-aix) for detailed installation instructions and architecture-specific troubleshooting. Unresolved questions could also be answered in the FAQ.

Current cautions and common problems:

  • GM-1 does not support the new M3-CLOS and M3-SPINE Myrinet-2000 switches.
  • By default, GM-1.5 and higher has security features enabled. Thus, you must now be root to run the GM Mapper (or gm_simpleroute).
  • If the host is rebooted, you must rerun the GM Mapper.
  • The GM Mapper must be run before any communication over Myrinet can occur.
  • In most cases, the GM Mapper should not be run continuously. It is intrusive and can interfere with network traffic intensive jobs (e.g, MPI applications).

    • GM installation is performed in five easy steps:

    a. Unpacking and installing the GM driver. 

            tar zxvf gm-1.6.4-AIX.tar.gz

    The next step will install the GM driver and other software and configuration files in /opt/gm/ or in an installation directory of your choice. In either case, the directory must exist before executing this step, and it must be writable by the user doing the installation (usually root, as shown below).

    If this installation is to be shared by more than one host, it is best to specify an installation directory that will be accessible to all of them, i.e., in an NFS-mounted filesystem. 

            su root
        cd gm-1.6.4-AIX-000759AF4C00-AIX-3
        ./GM_INSTALL [--verbose] [[--prefix=]<install_dir>]

    <install_dir> must be an absolute pathname; it must start with "/". However, it may contain symbolic links.

    The rest of these instructions use <install_dir> to represent your installation directory, even if you used the default /opt/gm/.

    b. Loading the driver.

    If Step a is successful, you will be prompted to load the driver, like this: 

    GM shared parts are now installed.  Remember to run
    <install_dir>/sbin/gm_install_drivers
as root on each machine that will use GM to make GM useable
on that machine.

    Like GM_INSTALL, the gm_install_drivers script supports a --verbose option for greater visibility.

    c. Initializing the driver.

    When the driver load is successful, you will see another prompt: 

    GM drivers are now installed.  Remember to run
    /usr/local/etc/rc.d/gm start
to start the GM driver.

    Here, again, you can add a --verbose option to the command (insert it between "gm" and "start").

    The last action of the gm start command is to run the program gm_board_info, which gives you a first-level sanity test of the installation. Ordinarily, gm_board_info will report the information about the Myrinet card in this host, but will not show routes or node ids, pending running the mapper.

    In addition to start, the /usr/local/etc/rc.d/gm command supports options stop and restart.

    d. Running the GM Mapper.

    Step a above has installed the mapper in <install_dir>/sbin.

    Still as root: 

        <install_dir>/sbin/mapper <install_dir>/etc/gm/map_once.args

    There are 3 ways in which the GM Mapper can be run. Refer to the section 'Running the GM Mapper' of the README-linux for further details.

    e. Testing the GM Installation.

    A variety of test programs and scripts are available in <install_dir>/bin/ to test your GM installation. We recommend the five tests described in tests/README.

    Congratulations! You have successfully installed GM.

    Recommended-version GM Source Downloads for AIX
    NIC
    Operating System / Architecture PCI64B and PCI64C
    (Lanai 9)    		 PCI64 and PCI64A
    (Lanai 7)
    AIX 4.3 and 5L 5.1 for Power PC GM-1.6.4_AIX GM-1.6.4_AIX

    Abbreviated Source Installation Instructions

    Building GM from source requires the VaC compilers (C and C++) and GNU make (hereinafter referred to as gmake, although its name may be simply make at your site). The build must be done on an AIX 4.3 or 5.1 platform.

    Note that in general, you do not need to build the MCP; prebuilt MCPs are included in the source tree.

    Please be sure to read the README files (README and README-aix) for detailed installation instructions and architecture-specific troubleshooting. Unresolved questions could also be answered in the FAQ.

    Current cautions and common problems:

  • GM-1 does not support the new M3-CLOS and M3-SPINE Myrinet-2000 switches.
  • By default, GM-1.5 and higher has security features enabled. Thus, you must now be root to run the GM Mapper (or gm_simpleroute).
  • If the host is rebooted, you must rerun the GM Mapper.
  • The GM Mapper must be run before any communication over Myrinet can occur.
  • In most cases, the GM Mapper should not be run continuously. It is intrusive and can interfere with network traffic intensive jobs (e.g, MPI applications).

    • GM installation is performed in six easy steps:

    Building GM from source requires the VaC compilers (C and C++) and GNU make (hereinafter referred to as gmake, although its name may be simply make at your site). The build must be done on an AIX 4.3 or 5.1 platform.

    a. Unpacking the GM Source Tree.

    The source tarball must be unpacked into a location where it will be accessible (mountable) by the AIX host on which you will be performing the build. 

            gunzip -c gm-1.6.4_Linux_and_AIX.tar.gz | tar xvf -

    The root of the source tree produced by the above command will be named gm-1.6.4_Linux_and_AIX. We will refer to this name as GM_HOME from now on.

    b. Configuring and Compiling GM and Other Software.

            cd {GM_HOME}
        ./configure
        gmake

    The gmake step will require several minutes. If any errors occur, please notify help@myri.com.

    c. Installing, Loading, and Initializing the GM Driver.

    The gmake step above will create and populate a subdirectory $GM_HOME/binary/, which is essentially identical to the binary tree <install_dir> described in Step a above.

    As root: 

            cd $GM_HOME/binary

    and proceed with GM_INSTALL as described in Step a from the GM Binary installation instructions. Then follow with Steps b through e.

    Congratulations! You have successfully installed GM.

    Refer to the Software and Documentation Page for details of GM-based software (MPICH-GM, PVM on GM). If you encountered difficulties during any phase of this installation process, we recommend that you first consult the README-aix and FAQ, and if you still have unresolved questions, please feel free to contact technical support at help@myri.com.


    Last updated: 16 May 2006