Abstract: One of the many challenges in large cloud or compute installations specifically for High Performance Computing (HPC), is implementing a scalable, centrally managed authentication solution that supports simultaneous bursts of authentication requests or resolution. A modern solution like identity Policy and Audit (IPA), proven as a viable solution for traditional IT workloads, however for large compute installations it is more challenging. IPA is a cost-effective solution based on FreeIPA, providing a central repository for storing user identity, access policies, and auditing. Compared to a solution like Sun’s Network Information Service (NIS), IPA has strong features in general but also contains some shortcomings such as complexity of configuration, administration, and recovery. This paper presents a case study for migrating to IPA solution for large computing installation of +12,0000 nodes deployed across two data centers. It uncovers some inherited limitations of out-of-the-box IPA deployment for HPC workloads and ways to work around these limitations to achieve an efficient, reliable, and scalable authentication solution.
Keywords: HPC, Scalable Authentication, IPA, Linux.
Title: Towards modern authentication in a large-scale compute Installation
Author: Nabil Nabulsi, Abdulaziz Hamidi
International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology Research
ISSN 2348-1196 (print), ISSN 2348-120X (online)
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