Building the ACM Cluster, Part 7: Network redux
Published on in ACM, ACM Cluster
So I’ve mentioned that I’ve been fighting networking again in the ACM cluster. I’ve been reworking the network. This whole adventure began after a conversation with the very knowledgeable nwf, who pointed out that JHU runs two different networks that the ACM systems need access to - CSNet (the JHU Computer Science department’s network) and JHU firewall-free (which has unfiltered access to the internet). The goal of this rework was to allow the cluster to be on both. In a situation with more resources, I would have simply bought another network card for each of the gateway nodes. However, I don’t have those resources and couldn’t find any spare network cards. nwf then pointed out that I would be able to use 802.1Q vlans to make more virtual ports.
So, here’s how this works: CSNet and JHU firewall-free (JHUFF) each plug into a single port on the main switches. These ports are assigned as being on specific vlans that differ from the other …