Is Platform Cluster Manager just commercial support of Kusu?

Many people think Platform Cluster Manager is just a commercial version of the open source software, Kusu. When Kusu was born a few years ago, that actually was the case. Since then, Platform Cluster Manager has evolved significantly, and by comparing the latest release of Platform Cluster Manager with Kusu today, one will find there are many differences now.

Kusu is open source cluster provisioning and management software developed by Platform Computing. The commercially supported open source version was initially called Open Cluster Stack (OCS), and that name was later changed to Platform Cluster Manager. In version 2.0, which was released in early 2010, we started to package proprietary code into Platform Cluster Manager for a better interface. In subsequent releases since then, more proprietary code has been added to Platform Cluster Manager. In the latest version 3.0, the original Kusu code is now just small part of the Platform Cluster Manager product. Installation, a graphical web interface, and the monitoring system are all proprietary code that have been added into the product. Although the Kusu code has gained enhancements for functionality and reliability release by release, Platform Cluster Manager 3 just uses Kusu to power its provisioning engine. The rest of the product’s functionality is not open source any more.

Today, Platform Cluster Manager as a licensed product is sold by many Platform Computing channel partners. It contains the following functional modules:

1. High quality and flexible open source provisioning engine developed by Platform Computing.
2. Web interface framework shared by most Platform Computing products
3. Web interface for cluster management
4. Monitoring framework based on reliable and scalable agent technology used in Platform LSF
5. Installer that supports un-attended or factory install

Some key new features added to Platform Cluster Manager 3 include:

1. An intuitive web interface
2. Management node high availability
3. Support of NIC bonding
4. Monitoring and alerting
5. More flexible network interface types
6. Enhanced kit building process

Platform Cluster Manager is also included in Platform HPC as the cluster management tool. It is used for deploying and managing the additional software modules in Platform HPC. With one package and one web interface, customers can easily expand their management functionalities from Platform Cluster Manager to Platform HPC by just adding Platform HPC licenses.

With the addition of these new features over the last two years, Platform Cluster Manager has truly evolved from a community supported open source package to a commercial grade product.