Infiniband, and what it means

quentusrex · 03-16-2005, 11:26 PM

I've been gone from this forum for a while, but now that things have settled down I hope to be here for even longer.

After coming back I hear a lot about 'Infiniband' and how it is being integrated into the new 2.6.11 kernel. What does this mean in semi-technical terms to us Debian users? What about to the linux community in general?

Matir · 03-16-2005, 11:50 PM

As I understand it, infiniband is a low-latency interconnect for clustered computing. Basically, it's just a new (though SIGNIFICANT) network driver.

And one most users probably don't need to worry about.

As for why it has made such news: clustered computing is obviously a growing area of development, especially at the enterprise level. The introduction of infiniband to linux has contributed to increasing Linux's role in the future as an enterprise operating system.

quentusrex · 03-17-2005, 12:48 AM

Ok, the network driver analogy is interesting. Yes, I have some involvement with clustering. I run a clusterknoppix cluster at night on my pc's. Would this make any difference for single workstation pc's? I read that it would make individual pieces of hardward more accessible in a cluster, would it change things on a single workstation?

Matir · 03-17-2005, 11:32 AM

I don't think there is any practical use for an extremely small (<16 consumer-grade machines) cluster. I'm not sure. Of course, the hardware investment for this would be, as I understand, substantial.