Linux Clustering

An anonymous reader writes "Beowulf clustering turns 10 years old, and, in this interview, creator Donald Becker talks about how Beowulf can handle high-end computing on a par with supercomputers."

BlueGene

[a3217055]

All this sounds good and Interesting, and Becker did a tremendous ammount of development in this field. But I was just wondering, what about supercomputers like BlueGene/L which have very fast interconnects. Many supercomputers/distributed systems run MPI based programmes and such programmes need a high interprocess commmunication does anyone one know how good these are in a Bewoulf Cluster? thanks a3217055 They said that of all the kings upon the earth he was the man most gracious and fair-minded, kindest to his people and keenest to win fame. :-The Geats' tribute to Beowulf after his death.

Passé?

[Kurt Wall]

Could it be that Beowulf clusters, however cost-effective and powerful they have become, are passé now that most universities and research institutions have some sort of COTS-based high-performance computing solutions? Not that Beowulf isn't cool - it is - it just doesn't seem as cool as it used to.

Winterware

[Eberlin]

If you could imagine a...ok, well maybe after ten years, we all could. The horse has been so beaten and tenderized that even takko vell wants a piece of the action.

I've never seen a beowulf cluster personally. I've never run anything on one. However I do know that it made "supercomputing" more affordable. That in itself is a feat -- and a primary goal of most Open Source software. A proverbial "Hats off" to the open source hackeres out there. Thanks...and keep hacking.

Now if I can gather enough old 486 machines, will I be able to run Doom III? With WINE? At least it'll keep me warm during the winter months.

Just out of curiosity...

[Krypto420]

I was wondering if it is possible to make some sort of cluster out of old computers I have lying around? Nothing spectacular, just hooking up 3-4 old P2's to make a game server or something of the sort. Is there software out there to do this?

Has anyone had any experience with this?

Just a thought...

actually...

[ed.han]

what is the most over-used joke on slashdot? options:

1. step 1: [topic], step 2: ?, step 3: profit!
2. natalie portman/hot grits
3. in soviet russia, [inversion of topic] you!
4. cowboy neal [action]
5. beowulf cluster
6. goatse guy
7. [technology/entity] is dying!

just curious...

ed

How fast will it run Doom3?

[ARRRLovin]

That is what I want to know!

In all seriousness though, what is the ratio of cluster to big iron in supercomputing nowadays? I know a clusters can scale out to a lot of FLOPS, but what is the highest FLOPS processor available?

newbie question re: ease of management

[SABME]

A question for beowulf-savvy folks:

At the end of the article, the comment is made that one reason for setting up a cluster is ease of management (for updates, applications, etc.). Can anyone with experience comment on whether this is true or not, with the way clustering exists today? I have no experience at all with cluster, and I'm wondering if this is something I should look into to ease administrative burdens?

Why use beowulf?

[axehind]

Why use Beowulf when you have openMosix? openMosix is all transparent to your application. You dont have to worry about remote execution, openmosix migrates your process automatically to the best node. Like I said.. it's all transparent and requires no additional programing in your application.

Re:Imagine All...

[jpmkm]

Though John Lennon was a Beatle, Imagine is not a Beatles song.

Rocks

[kst]

Rocks provides an easy way to build a Beowulf cluster. See http://www.rocksclusters.org/ [rocksclusters.org].

You can build a working cluster, starting with the hardware and installation CD-ROMs, in minutes; see http://servers.linux.com/servers/04/08/27/1943227. shtml?tid=29&tid=94 [linux.com] for one account.

Disclaimer: I work with the folks who created Rocks.

Re:Beowulf seems older than that

[Zerbey]

Depends... it only took 4 weeks for Floridians to get real sick of hurricanes. :-)

About 24 hours, actually. The first night was ok because the power had only gone out a few hours previously and it was still really windy out. As a result, the house remained cool.

By the following night, the winds where gone, the house had been without an air conditioner for 24 hours and it was really, really humid. After 7 days, there are no words to describe how thoroughly fed up I was with Hurricanes :)

Then, two weeks later, Frances knocked my power out for 8 days. Again. Argh!!!