This article identifies resources for system administrators as they begin working with the Intel® Xeon Phi™ coprocessor, which is based on the Intel® Many Integrated Core (Intel® MIC) architecture. It is one of three such guides, each for people in one of the following specific roles:
- Administrator refers to a person responsible for administration of one or more servers equipped with the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor (including clusters of such servers).
- Developer refers to a person programming for systems equipped with the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor.
- Investigator refers to anyone else who needs to learn more about the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor, particularly those deciding whether an organization should adopt the technology.
Each guide focuses on the resources most likely to be of primary interest to people in that role. For example, documentation on maintaining clusters is potentially of interest to an administrator, but far less likely to be valuable to a developer. Likewise, programming syntax and semantics are important to a developer, but typically not to an administrator. The content in each guide is tailored accordingly.
The resources identified in this guide are a starting point rather than an exhaustive catalog, and readers are encouraged toward further study and participation in the Intel MIC community1. The Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Developer Zone2 contains a wealth of additional resources, including articles and documentation, tools, training, forums, and blogs.
The topic areas in this document are divided into the following sections.
- Implementation and Operations:
- Administration of the Intel® Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel® MPSS)
- Installation Documentation
- Cluster Administration
- Tools, Support, and Infrastructure:
- Technical Support and Training
- Language and Scripting Support
- Library Support
- Networking Infrastructure
Implementation and Operations
Administration of the Intel® Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel® MPSS)
The following documents provide guidance for administering Intel MPSS, which is the software environment needed to run the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor.
- System Administration for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor3 provides a general overview of the coprocessor from the system administrator’s point of view.
- Intel® Manycore Platform Software Stack4 introduces Intel MPSS and provides downloads and documentation for various versions of the stack. Make sure that you are downloading documents for the proper version. The user’s guide includes installation directions for Intel MPSS as well as for optional packages (e.g., OFED* and GANGLIA*).
Installation Documentation
The following documents are focused on helping developers get started writing code and running applications, but they include installation instructions for Intel MPSS. They are also helpful in terms of running applications on a system (host) that includes the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor.
- Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Developer's Quick Start Guide (Linux)5
- Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Developer's Quick Start Guide for Microsoft Windows Host6
Cluster Administration
- System Administration for the Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor7 provides a general overview of the coprocessor from the system administrator’s point of view (including FAQ).
- Configuring Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessors Inside a Cluster8 gives a blueprint for setup and configuration (note that, as of December 9th, 2013, this document needs to be updated for Intel MPSS version 3.x).
- For gauging system health (micsmc, micperf, micras, imb, Ganglia*), reference the following resources, in addition to using standard system health utilities:
- Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Software Developer’s Guide9, section 2.2.7.2 (Ganglia support)
- Intel Xeon Phi MICRAS Log User Guide10
- Intel MPSS User Guide (Linux)11
- Intel MPSS User Guide (Windows)12
- Intel MPSS Readme file13, section 8.7 (Micrasd)
Tools, Support, and Infrastructure
Technical Support and Training
- Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Developer Zone14 is the source of first resort for technical resources related to the Intel MIC architecture.
- Intel Many Integrated Core Architecture Forum15 is a public discussion board moderated by Intel that addresses real-world problems and solutions.
- External training for the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor is available from the following sources:
Language and Scripting Support
- Intel® Composer XE Suites21 include C, C++, and Fortran compilers, plus libraries and programming models. Documentation for the suites is available at the following locations:
- OpenCL* on Xeon Intel Xeon Phi24 identifies resources to get started with OpenCL on the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor.
- Scripting: the coprocessor and host use standard Linux* and support the standard scripting languages. Note that since the Linux on the coprocessor is minimal, you may have to compile interpreters for the coprocessor.
Library Support
- Intel® Math Kernel Library25 is a broadly used, high-performance math library.
- Intel® Threading Building Blocks26 is a C++ template library for efficiently implementing higher-level, task-based parallelism.
- Intel® MPI Library27 is a performance-optimized Message-Passing Interface (MPI) library for Intel® architecture-based clusters.
- Intel® SDK for OpenCL* Applications 201328 is a software development environment for OpenCL applications.
- Building a Native Application for Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessors29 includes guidance related to building third-party libraries.
Networking Infrastructure
The host and coprocessor use a standard Linux OS and support most of the typical networking protocols. Note that “support” does not imply they are in the default installation. See the following documents for further information.
- The following documents contain advanced configuration information and procedures:
- System Administration for the Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor32 includes a “Network Configuration” section that is valuable to those designing and administering networking infrastructure.
References
This list of notes provides both the URLs for resources covered in the article, as well as navigation guidance for locating resources that are located on the Intel Developer Zone, without using the URL. Note that “MIC-IDZ” refers to the Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Developer Zone, located at http://software.intel.com/mic-developer.
1 http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-many-integrated-core
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Get Support => Intel® Many Integrated Core Architecture Forum
2 http://software.intel.com/en-us/mic-developer
Navigation: MIC-IDZ
3 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/system-administration-for-the-intel-xeon-phi-coprocessor
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Overview => Guides & Manuals => System Administration => Useful Documentatio
4 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-manycore-platform-software-stack-mpss
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Tools & Downloads => “Software Drivers: Intel Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel MPSS)”
5 http://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/article/335818/intel-xeon-phi-coprocessor-quick-start-developers-guide.pdf
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Overview => Guides & Manuals => Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor Developer’s Quick Start Guide => Download Entire Articles => “Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor Developer's Quick Start Guide”
6 http://download-software.intel.com/sites/default/files/article/335818/intel-xeon-phi-coprocessor-quick-start-developers-guide-windows-v1-2.pdf
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Overview => Guides & Manuals => Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor Developer’s Quick Start Guide => Download Entire Articles => “Intel® Xeon Phi™ Coprocessor Developer's Quick Start Guide for Windows”
7 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/system-administration-for-the-intel-xeon-phi-coprocessor
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Overview => “System Administration Guide”
8 http://download-software.intel.com/sites/default/files/650_Intel_R__Xeon_Phi_tm__Cluster_configuration-v081.pdf
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Overview => Guides & Manuals => System Administration => Useful Documentation => Configuring Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors inside a cluster
9 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-xeon-phi-coprocessor-system-software-developers-guide
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Tools & Downloads => Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor Software Developer’s Guide => section 2.2.7.2 (Ganglia support)
10 http://software.intel.com/sites/default/files/Intel(R)_Xeon_Phi(TM)_Coprocessor_MicRAS_Log_User_Guide.pdf
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Intel Many Integrated Core Architecture Forum => “MICRAS Log User Guide”
11 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-manycore-platform-software-stack-mpss
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Tools & Downloads => Software Drivers: Intel Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel MPSS) => MPSS 3.x release for Linux => MPSS_Users_Guide.pdf
12 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-manycore-platform-software-stack-mpss
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Tools & Downloads => Software Drivers: Intel Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel MPSS) => MPSS 3.x release for Microsoft Windows* => MPSS_Users_Guide.pdf
13 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-manycore-platform-software-stack-mpss
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Tools & Downloads => Software Drivers: Intel Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel MPSS) => MPSS 2.1 release for Linux => Documentation link => readme-en.txt => 8.7 Micrasd
14 http://software.intel.com/en-us/mic-developer
Navigation: MIC-IDZ
15 http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-many-integrated-core
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Get Support => Intel® Many Integrated Core Architecture Forum
16 http://www.colfax-intl.com/nd/xeonphi.aspx
17 http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/user-services/training
18 http://www.acceleware.com/xeon-phi-training
19 http://www.caps-entreprise.com
20 http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/userinfo/resources/conte/
21 http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-composer-xe
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Software Development Products => Intel® C/C++ and Fortran Compilers
22 http://software.intel.com/articles/intel-c-composer-xe-documentation
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Software Development Products => Intel C/C++ and Fortran Compilers => Related Content => Documentation => C/C++
23 http://software.intel.com/articles/intel-fortran-composer-xe-documentation/
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Software Development Products => Intel C/C++ and Fortran Compilers => Related Content => Documentation => Fortran
24 http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/382241#comment-1729511
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Search (“OpenCL Phi”) => OpenCL on Xeon Intel Xeon Phi
25 http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-mkl
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Software Development Products => Intel Math Kernel Library
26 http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-tbb
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Software Development Products => Intel Parallel Studio XE => Intel Threading Building Blocks
27 http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-mpi-library
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Software Development Products => Intel MPI Library
28 http://software.intel.com/en-us/vcsource/tools/opencl-sdk
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Search (“OpenCL SDK”) => Intel SDK for OpenCL Applications 2013
29 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/building-a-native-application-for-intel-xeon-phi-coprocessors
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Programming => Programming => Building Native Applications => “Building a Native Application for Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessors” => Building Libraries
30 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-manycore-platform-software-stack-mpss
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Tools & Downloads => Software Drivers: Intel Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel MPSS) => MPSS 3.x release for Linux => MPSS_Users_Guide.pdf
31 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-manycore-platform-software-stack-mpss
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Tools & Downloads => Software Drivers: Intel Manycore Platform Software Stack (Intel MPSS) => MPSS 3.x release for Microsoft Windows* => MPSS_Users_Guide.pdf
32 http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/system-administration-for-the-intel-xeon-phi-coprocessor
Navigation: MIC-IDZ => Overview => “System Administration Guide”