[mpich-discuss] Does MPICH2 work with multiple NICs, and how?

[Gus Correa]

Dear MPICH developers and experts

1) Does MPICH2 (or MPICH-1) work with multiple Gigabit Ethernet NICs 
installed on the
computing nodes of a PC Linux cluster?

2) If it does work with multiple NICs, what is the recommended mechanism 
to use MPICH2
with multiple NICs: LACP/channel bonding, multiple IP addresses, 
something else?

3) If it doesn't work with multiple NICs,
are there plans to include communication with multiple NICs in MPICH2, 
and how soon?

We are long time MPICH users, and so far our old single-core/dual-slot 
PC computer
cluster nodes have had single NICs, performing reasonably well.
However, most new PC cluster nodes on the market these days are 
multi-core/multi-slot,
and a single NIC per node is likely to produce network contention.
I have to buy a replacement cluster for our group (which mostly does 
computations with MPICH),
hence my concern about this.

I hope the questions are appropriate.
Many thanks for any clarification or help.

Gus Correa

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Gustavo J. Ponce Correa, PhD - Email: gus at ldeo.columbia.edu
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory - Columbia University
P.O. Box 1000 [61 Route 9W] - Palisades, NY, 10964-8000 - USA
Oceanography Bldg., Rm. 103-D, ph. (845) 365-8911, fax (845) 365-8736
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