Correlator Operating System

The all the computing hardware will be running a version of RHEL 7.x. Because of security issues, the installed version will track the latest release from Red Hat. The only exception are the Lustre servers. The Lustre systems use a version of RHEL 6.x with Lustre-specific kernel modifications; because these kernel modifications do not track the Red Hat's normal version evolution process these kernels cannot be readily upgraded. If funding for a new version of Lustre is obtained, then the new version will configure Lustre in a way that does not require kernel modifications and will allow the Lustre servers to use and track the normal release versions of RHEL 7.x.

Installation

The RHEL Image

Because the correlator is a special purpose compute server the software installed should be kept to a minimum. Using a smaller operating system image reduces the amount of software that may need to be patched while improving security by reducing the attack surface.

TBD

Patching

The operating system for all nodes in the system will be patched weekly when relevant patches are available except when holidays, travel, etc., prevent NRAO personnel from accomplishing the updates.

A detailed patch procedure will be developed as part of the system configuration process and it will be documented in a wiki page.

-- JimJacobs - 2018-12-11