Bright Computing Rolls New Cluster Manager, Ceph Integration

Cluster and cloud management software specialist Bright Computing unveiled a new version of its cluster manager for Apache Hadoop during this week’s Hadoop Summit in San Jose.

Separately, it announced on Wednesday (June 10) that its OpenStack management software now integrates with Ceph, the distributed object storage and file system.

Bright Computer’s management platform is intended to help build and manage big data clusters via Apache Hadoop. Version 7.1 of the cluster manager expands automation of deployment and management for a variety of Hadoop distributions, the San Jose-based company said.

The updated cluster manager’s graphical interface is designed to manage both the physical cluster and the Hadoop software stack.

Along with integration with current Hadoop distributions and data platform applications, the company also cited other uses cases for the upgraded cluster manager. For example, it said the tool could be used to combine Hadoop with HPC. That would enable the allocation of resources to deploy and monitor both Hadoop and HPC stacks from a single instance of the Bright interface.

The vendor said Tulane University’s Cypress Supercomputer already employs such a hybrid system.

According to the company, Hadoop adopters tend to gravitate toward multiple clusters, the number depending on specific requirements. Implementations could be as simple as separating development and test from production.

The latest version of its cluster manager aims to allow users to start with bare metal deployments and then manage Hadoop clusters along with the rest of the analytics stack. The functionality is intended to provide “single-pane-of-glass” management for hardware, operating system, Hadoop configuration and analytics applications.

Version 7.1 also integrates the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) along with a YARN workload manager. The added functionality is provided via the latest distributions of “vanilla” Apache Hadoop as well as Cloudera CDH, Hortonworks HDP and Pivotal HD, Bright Computing said.

It also includes an overlay capability designed to configure and manage Hadoop nodes while performing maintenance tasks. HDFS encryption is also provided in the latest version, as is integrated support for Apache Spark, Apache Hive and Apache Sqoop. The goal, the company said, is a “comprehensive platform for big data analytics.”

Meanwhile, Bright Computing said its OpenStack management software can be used to deploy a standalone Ceph storage environment or as an OpenStack storage backend. The version 7.1 cluster manager can monitor storage pools within Ceph or shift storage preferences from one physical device to another.

The OpenStack manager works by adding or removing physical nodes as well updating operating systems on storage nodes.

Version 7.1 is also said to improve tools used to manage Ceph cluster map algorithms, ensuring that data is replicated between physically separated datacenter racks. That approach differs from simply replicating data within a single rack. The feature is intended to reduce the risk of catastrophic storage failures.

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