Sharing Server Nodes For Storage And Compute

Based on the observation of low average CPU utilisation of several hundred file storage servers in the EOS storage system at CERN, the Batch on EOS Extra Resources (BEER) project developed an approach to also utilise these resources for batch processing. Initial proof of concept tests showed little interference between batch and storage services on a node. Subsequently a model for production was developed and implemented. This has been deployed on part of the CERN EOS production service. The implementation and test results will be presented. The potential for additional resources at the CERN Tier-0 centre is of the order of ten thousand hardware threads in the near term, as well as being a step towards a hyper-converged infrastructure.