Qlustar

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The Qlustar Platform

Our Mission

The Qlustar development and engineering team has the simple principle to make Qlustar the optimal software platform for HPC, Storage and Cloud clusters. We achieve this by:

  • Scalable and forward-thinking system and software designs.
  • Excellence in implementation using GIT version control throughout.
  • Constant innovation and improvement.
  • Strict quality assurance (release when ready).

Core/Edge Platforms

Qlustar consists of a single Core and multiple Edge platforms. By platform, we mean a specific Linux distribution, possibly for multiple CPU architectures.

The core platform provides all Qlustar components/packages including the installer. It is currently (and will be in the foreseeable future) based on Ubuntu LTS releases. On the other hand, edge platforms are not meant to be run on head-nodes and lack certain software components or packages (head- / service-node functionality).

While the head-nodes are bound to the core platform, all other nodes are free to run any of the supported core/edge platforms. Mixing of different edge platforms on different nodes within a single cluster is fully supported. E.g., you are able to run any mix of Ubuntu and AlmaLinux in a single cluster.

Servers that are installed on disk and serve exclusively as head-/service nodes, will always run the core platform. Among the software components that are supported only in core are:

  • High-availability configurations
  • Lustre servers
  • BeeGFS servers
  • Kubernetes worker nodes

In general, any component for which the platform does not matter, and the provided service alone is relevant, will be provided only in core. The rationale to distinguish between a core and edge platforms is led by the idea that the nature of the components exclusively provided by the core platform is service-centric. Therefore, the choice of a Linux distribution doesn’t matter for this part of the architecture.

In contrast, Qlustar offers choice, where it’s needed: To select one or multiple edge platforms, that will satisfy the specific requirements (e.g. Linux distribution type and version, libraries) of applications/programs to be run by end users. Obviously this is needed mostly in HPC environments.

Supported CPU Architectures

Currently, the only supported CPU architecture is x86_64 as it is still the dominant hardware platform in cluster environments. However, arm64-based servers are becoming increasingly important, so a port to the ARM arcitecture is in the making and is planned to debut with Qlustar 15.

Central Software Components

Qlustar’s central software components are the juice of the distribution. They deliver the core functionality for the type of systems Qlustar is designed for (HPC / AI / Storage or Desktop clusters) and are divided into the different Qlustar stack groups (HPC, AI, Data, HA, …).

Some of these components are not part of the base Linux distribution. Qlustar provides all central components / packages with up-to-date versions (in most cases much more recent than the base distributions), with the best possible quality and configuration for clusters. For some components, Qlustar provides packages with multiple versions that sometimes are also installable in parallel. Examples are Lustre and Kubernetes.

The control-center of the Qlustar Cluster OS is the management framework QluMan. It is responsible for setting up, configuring and operating Qlustar clusters in a consistent and easy-to-use fashion.

Software/Package Repositories

The Qlustar software package repository for a particular platform is composed of the repository provided by the base (upstream) distribution supplemented with the custom packages built for Qlustar. They are all served from the same public Qlustar repository servers.

Software/Package Version Policy

Qlustar software packages carry a version appendix string indicating the Qlustar package version as well as the base distribution codename.
Example: Package slurmctld_25.05.6+ds.1-ql.1+14-noble_amd64.deb
Upstream version (Slurm) 25.05.6, Qlustar package version ds.1-ql.1 for Ubuntu noble / architecture amd64.

Whenever possible/necessary, the versions of central software components will be the same in all platforms for a given Qlustar release. E.g. the Slurm version is the same in all platforms of Qlustar 14. This ensures that all central edge platform components (running on compute nodes) work flawlessly with the corresponding core platform components (on the head-/service-nodes).

Qlustar Releases

Currently, there are 4 types of releases: Major, HPC Core stack, feature updates, and maintenance. Apart from major releases, the release dates are more or less independent of the base distributions release dates.

Major Releases

Since Ubuntu LTS is our current core platform, we will target a new major release, whenever there is a new LTS release. So e.g. Qlustar 15 being based on Ubuntu 26.04 is planned for the end of 2026.

HPC Core Stack Releases

The HPC Core Stack is comprised of a handful software packages that together with the kernel drivers provide the foundation of the HPC application stack. It has a release cycle varying between 9-12 months.

Feature Updates

Feature Updates introduce non-interruptive features in irregular intervals, decoupled from the usual Qlustar releases. No incompatibilities between Qlustar components are introduced. Most of the time these are improvements within QluMan.

Maintenance Releases

Maintenance releases provide minor package updates (security/bug fixes). Often, QluMan will add some new features as well. Changes in a maintenance release are such that compatibility to a previous release is given.

Version Numbering

Qlustar versions are composed of three digits characterizing the major, HPC Core Stack and maintenance release numbers + an appendix indicating the upstream (Ubuntu, AlmaLinux) codename.
Example: 14.1.1/noble
Major release 14, HPC Core Stack 1, maintenance release 1 based on Ubuntu 24.04 (codename noble).

Support Period of Qlustar Releases

The support duration of a Qlustar platform release is equivalent to the support duration for the release of the underlying distribution.

Example: Support for the Qlustar platform Ubuntu Noble will end, once Ubuntu ends standard support for Noble (April 2029).

Note:

While a new Qlustar major release always implies a different version of the core platform (Qlustar 15 / Ubuntu 26.04 versus Qlustar 14 / Ubuntu 24.04), the version of edge platforms can remain the same (14.x/alma8 becomes 15.x/alma8).