Storage testing: Worked Example — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)

Storage Testing: Worked Example for NVIDIA AI Infrastructure Cluster Verification

Storage testing is a critical component of the Cluster Test and Verification process for the NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure certification. Ensuring reliable, high-performance storage is essential for AI workloads that demand rapid data access and throughput. This worked example demonstrates a step-by-step approach to performing storage testing within a multi-node NVIDIA AI cluster.

Scenario Overview

Assume you have a 4-node NVIDIA AI cluster configured with NVMe SSDs on each node, connected via a high-speed network fabric. The goal is to verify storage performance and reliability under sustained AI workload conditions before production deployment.

Step 1: Prepare the Environment

• Verify cluster health: Confirm all nodes are online and network connectivity is stable.
• Check storage configuration: Validate that NVMe drives are correctly mounted and accessible on each node.
• Install benchmarking tools: Deploy fio (Flexible I/O Tester) and NVIDIA storage utilities on all nodes.

Step 2: Define Storage Test Parameters

• Test type: Sequential and random read/write operations.
• Block size: 4 KB for random I/O, 1 MB for sequential I/O.
• Queue depth: 32 to simulate concurrent operations.
• Test duration: 10 minutes per test to ensure sustained performance.

Step 3: Execute Single-Node Storage Tests

Run fio on each node individually to establish baseline performance metrics.

Example Command

On Node 1, execute:

fio --name=randread --ioengine=libaio --rw=randread --bs=4k --numjobs=4 --size=10G --runtime=600 --group_reporting

Interpretation: This command performs a random read test with 4 KB block size, 4 parallel jobs, on a 10 GB file for 10 minutes.

Step 4: Conduct Multi-Node Concurrent Storage Testing

• Simultaneously run the same fio tests on all nodes to simulate cluster-wide storage load.
• Monitor network and storage latency to detect bottlenecks.
• Record throughput and IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) for each node.

Step 5: Analyze Results and Identify Anomalies

• Compare single-node baseline results with multi-node test results.
• Look for significant drops in throughput or spikes in latency indicating contention or hardware issues.
• Check system logs for errors related to storage controllers or network fabric.

Step 6: Perform Burn-In Testing with AI Workloads

To validate storage reliability under real AI workloads, run burn-in tests using NVIDIA NCCL and NeMo frameworks:

• Execute distributed training jobs that heavily utilize storage I/O.
• Monitor storage performance metrics and system stability over extended periods.

Step 7: Document and Report Findings

• Summarize performance metrics, anomalies, and corrective actions taken.
• Provide recommendations for storage configuration tuning if necessary.
• Confirm storage subsystem readiness for production AI workloads.

Summary

This worked example illustrates the systematic approach to storage testing within the NVIDIA AI infrastructure cluster verification process. By combining synthetic benchmarks with real AI workload burn-in tests, professionals can ensure the storage subsystem meets the demanding requirements of advanced AI deployments.

For more detailed guidance on cluster test and verification, refer to the official NVIDIA AI Infrastructure certification resources.

More in this topic

Cable signal quality and correctness verification: Worked Example — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)NCCL verification including NVLink Switch validation — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)East-west fabric bandwidth verification: Quick Reference — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Switch and BlueField firmware confirmation: Quick Reference — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Storage testing: Common Mistakes — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Cable signal quality and correctness verification: Practice Questions — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)ClusterKit node assessment: Quick Reference — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Cluster Test and Verification — NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI InfrastructureCable signal quality and correctness verification — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)ClusterKit node assessment: Practice Questions — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Cable signal quality and correctness verification: Common Mistakes — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Storage testing — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)ClusterKit node assessment: Worked Example — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Burn-in testing with NCCL, HPL, and NeMo: Common Mistakes — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Switch and BlueField firmware confirmation: Worked Example — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Burn-in testing with NCCL, HPL, and NeMo — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Switch and BlueField firmware confirmation: Common Mistakes — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)East-west fabric bandwidth verification: Common Mistakes — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)ClusterKit node assessment: Common Mistakes — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Storage testing: Quick Reference — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)East-west fabric bandwidth verification: Worked Example — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)East-west fabric bandwidth verification — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Burn-in testing with NCCL, HPL, and NeMo: Worked Example — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Burn-in testing with NCCL, HPL, and NeMo: Practice Questions — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Burn-in testing with NCCL, HPL, and NeMo: Quick Reference — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)ClusterKit node assessment — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)East-west fabric bandwidth verification: Practice Questions — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Cable signal quality and correctness verification: Quick Reference — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Switch and BlueField firmware confirmation: Practice Questions — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Switch and BlueField firmware confirmation — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Storage testing: Practice Questions — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)Single-node stress testing and HPL execution — Cluster Test and Verification (NVIDIA-Certified Professional: AI Infrastructure)