Experience with Amazon ParallelCluster. Years ago, I managed a High Performance computing cluster with 17 nodes on Fedora Linux. Now I work on Amazon ParallelCluster.
Before Amazon ParallelCluster 3.6.0, Amazon ParallelCluster could be installed through a command line rather than launching a CloudFormation template. Reading through the latest AWS ParallelCluster User Guide is a good starting point. Without worrying about cost incurred in your AWS account, you may try installing an AWS ParallelCluster for learning purpose.
There are multiple ways to create an AWS ParallelCluster depending on version of Amazon ParallelCluster you select. Regardless version of AWS ParallelCluster, you can create an AWS ParallelCluster with the pcluster command. It is the simplest method for creating an AWS ParallelCluster.
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Create a management node with Amazon Linux 2 or Amazon Linux 2023. It's better to select Amazon Linux 2023 because Amazon Linux 2 offers long-term support until June 30, 2025. As for as advantages of using Amazon Linux 2023, please reference https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/compare-with-al2.html#security-updates.
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Secure the management node. 2-1. Use DirectoryService to authenticate users who are eligible to log in to the management node. 2-2. Update and patch the management node automatically. 2-3. Set up a security group to restrict access to the management node.
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Attach a ManagementNodeRole to the management node.