Officially, the Intel Cluster Tools support RPM-based installs only. For a full list of supported OSes, check out our compatibility matrix.

If you’d still like to use the tools on Debian and Ubuntu systems, the following steps can help you in, at least, installing the tools. Note that the process below still requires that a valid license for the desired Cluster Tool is present on the machine.

1. Download the latest version of the Intel® MPI Library for Linux* from the Intel® Registration Center.


2. Untar the package and go down into the newly created directory

   $ tar –xzf l_mpi_p_3.2.1.009.tgz
   $ cd l_mpi_p_3.2.1.009/



3. Create a new directory and extract the RPM files using the provided install.sh script. Note that you’d need a valid license to do so.

   $ mkdir rpms
   
   $ ./install.sh --extract=./rpms
   Extracting components...
   Extracting files... ################################################ [100%]
   Product's rpm and EULA have been extracted in ./rpms
   Please carefully read EULA before using the product
   
   $ ls –l
   

   intel-mpi-em64t-3.2.1p-009.x86_64.rpm	# SDK for the Intel MPI Library for Linux*
   intel-mpi-rt-em64t-3.2.1p-009.x86_64.rpm	# Runtime component of the Intel MPI Library
   mpiEULA.txt	# End-User License Agreement for the Intel MPI Library. # Read before using.
   redist.txt	# List of Intel MPI Library files whose redistribution is allowed



4. Convert the RPM files into DEB files, to be installed on your Debian-based system using the alien utility

   $ which alien
   /usr/bin/alien
   
   $ alien intel-mpi-em64t-3.2.1p-009.x86_64.rpm
   intel-mpi-em64t_3.2.1p-10_amd64.deb generated

   Here note that converting the SDK package for the Intel MPI Library is enough, as the runtime libraries are already contained within.


5. Now that you have the .deb file generated, install using your preferred method. For example, this is how it’s done using the dpkg utility

   # This will use the default /opt/intel installation directory
   $ dpkg --install intel-mpi-em64t_3.2.1p-10_amd64.deb



6. Done! You are now free to enjoy the Intel MPI Library at your leisure.



Even though this example highlighted the Debian-based installation of the Intel MPI Library, the same technique can be applied to the Intel® Cluster Toolkit for Linux*, Intel® Cluster Toolkit Compiler Edition for Linux*, and the Intel® Trace Analyzer and Collector for Linux*.

IA-32 Architecture refers to systems based on 32-bit processors generally compatible with the Intel Pentium® II processor, (for example, Intel® Pentium® 4 processor or Intel® Xeon® processor), or processors from other manufacturers supporting the same instruction set, running a 32-bit operating system.

Intel® 64 Architecture (formerly Intel® EM64T)refers to systems based on IA-32 architecture processors which have 64-bit architectural extensions, (for example, Intel® Core™2 processor family), running a 64-bit operating system such as Microsoft Windows Vista* x64 or a Linux* "x86_64" variant. If the system is running a 32-bit  operating system, then IA-32 architecture applies instead. Systems based on AMD* processors running a 64-bit operating system are also supported by Intel compilers for Intel® 64 architecture applications.

64-bit computing on Intel architecture requires a computer system with a processor, chipset, BIOS, operating system, device drivers and applications enabled for Intel® 64 architecture. Performance will vary depending on your hardware and software configurations. Consult with your system vendor for more information.

IA-64 Architecture refers to systems based on the Intel® Itanium® processor running a 64-bit operating system.

• Are there any prerequisite tools that need to be present prior to installing the Intel® Cluster Toolkit?
• In what instances do I need to use the Expect software package?
• I have an issue on Itanium®-based systems when doing an install with the --nonroot command-line option. What am I doing wrong?
• I am trying to build an Expect executable based on a download from http://expect.nist.gov/ and I am encountering an error when running the configure command. What am I doing wrong?
• I have established secure shell (SSH) connectivity on my cluster but I am still prompted for a password. What am I doing wrong?

Are there any prerequisite tools that need to be present prior to installing the Intel® Cluster Toolkit?

For full functionality of the Intel® Cluster Toolkit software package, you will need to acquire additional software resources, if they are not already installed on your system:

• For all of the Intel® processor architectures running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0, Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 4.0, SUSE* Linux* Enterprise Server 9, SUSE Linux 9.0, or SUSE Linux 9.1, the version number on the Intel® compilers should be 8.1 or greater.
• Perl is Open Source* software where the Perl programming language has been optimized for scanning arbitrary text files, extracting information from those text files, and generating printed reports based on that information. It is also a good language for many system administrative tasks. Perl is used in the Intel® Cluster Toolkit by the Intel® Trace Collector. You can download it for free as source code or as a pre-compiled binary distribution. The Perl source code is available for distribution by setting a Web browser at the URL: http://www.perl.com/pub/a/language/info/software.html† . At this URL, click on the hyperlink titled, “Stable Production Release.”
• Python is Open Source software where the high-level built in data structures in combination with dynamic typing and dynamic binding, make it very attractive for rapid application development, as well as for use as a scripting or glue language to connect existing software components together. Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. The current release of Python can be retrieved from the URL: http://www.python.org/download† . If Python needs to be installed on your system, be sure to retrieve the current production version. The Python programming language is used by Intel® MPI Library.
• The 4.2.2 version of RPM on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 for Itanium® has a broken relocation feature. This will be a serious problem for users trying to do installs on clusters where there are shared devices. A recommended solution is for the user to upgrade to the latest release of RPM. A possible URL for retrieving a recent release of RPM that resolves this problem on the Itanium® architecture is http://www.redhat.com† .
• Expect is a tool for automating interactive applications. You can download the Expect software package from http://expect.nist.gov/† .

In what instances do I need to use the Expect software package?

Within the “tar” package of the Intel Cluster Toolkit, there is an Expect shell script file called sshconnectivity.exp. This Expect shell script will create or update a ~/.ssh directory on each node of the cluster beginning with the master node. If you do not have ssh-connectivity established on your cluster, the sshconnectivity.exp might be useful. As noted previously, you can download the expect software package from http://expect.nist.gov/† .

I have an issue on Itanium®-based systems, the symptom listed below is occurring for RPM version 4.2.2 when doing an install with the --nonroot command-line option. What am I doing wrong?

Installing Intel(R) MPI Library for Linux* version p_3.0.021...
Extracting files...    ################################################   [100%] Would you like to:     Install:     i.  Intel(R) MPI Library, Development Kit for Linux* version 3.0-021     x.  Exit Your choice? (i/x) [i]: i Cannot install Intel(R) MPI Library, Development Kit for Linux* version 3.0-021 to "/home/steve/intel/ict/3.0/mpi/3.0":
RPM version 4.2.2 prevent installation into a non-default directory.
Installation failed.
WARNING: Intel(R) MPI Library for Linux* installer did not create "/tmp/install.XX2svw1O/MPI.ini" file; the product cannot be installed to all cluster nodes.
Press Enter to continue...

The solution is to use an updated version of RPM.

I am trying to build an Expect executable based on a download from http://expect.nist.gov/†  and I am encountering an error when running the configure command. What am I doing wrong?

…
checking for Tcl private headers... checking for tclInt.h... no
configure: error: Can't find Tcl private headers
…

It is assumed that expect and Tcl are both stored in a path such as /usr/local/src. For example, the paths might be:

/usr/local/src/tcl8.4.12           (actual version may be different)
/usr/local/src/expect-5.43         (actual version may be different)

The header file tclInt.h is located in the generic folder under a Tcl installation path such as /usr/local/src/tcl8.4.12. The --with-tclinclude option should be used with the configure command to build expect. The configure command might look something like the follo wing:

configure --with-tclinclude=/usr/local/src/tcl8.4.12/generic

I have established secure shell (SSH) connectivity on my cluster where each node has a public key. However, when I use any secure shell utility on the cluster, I am still prompted for a password. What am I doing wrong?

Assuming that you have set up a NULL “ passphrase” for your login account when using the ssh-keygen utility, for all systems in your cluster, and that you have distributed the public key for each node to all the other nodes (i.e., the public keys reside in the “ ~/.ssh/authorized_keys” file), then check the permissions of your home directory on your cluster. The “group” and “other” permission categories should only have read and execute accessibility for the home directory folder. If you activate a “write” permission setting for either the “group” or “other” categories, SSH will prompt you for the password. Also, the “ ~/.ssh” subdirectory should only have read, write, and execute permission for the login owner.

Note that the expect shell script sshconnectivity.exp will remove the write access capability on the group and other “permission categories” for the user’s home directory folder.

^† This link will take you off of the Intel Web site. Intel does not control the content of the destination Web Site.

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