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Old 02-15-2005, 11:16 AM   #1
svinka
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A beowolf cluster


Ok, i am not a compelete newbie, but still have a lot to learn. What i'm asking you, everybody, is this: Is it possible to make a beowolf cluster with 1 Pentium-III 500MHz computer as the head node and 6 Pentium-90's as slave nodes? Even if it is, would that have any point? And they will probably be like stoves, eating a lot of energy and giving away a lot of heat.
Anyways, anybody who has an opinion about this, please post a reply, i would be glad to know what you're thinking about this crazy idea. And also i would like to learn more about clusters, and what are the best systems for making them.

thanx in advance,
svinka.

P.S. oh, & btw, what's the difference between NOW and COW?
 
Old 02-15-2005, 12:20 PM   #2
Matir
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Well, that cluster certainly won't be TERRIBLY powerful. But, if you already have the hardware, I'm sure it would be a good way to learn about clusters. I'm actually trying to do something similar, but I don't have enough hardware yet. (I'm a CS major in college with a concentration in Parallel/Distributed computing)
 
Old 02-15-2005, 03:25 PM   #3
svinka
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Yeah, i guess the point of that kind of thing is only to learn... But hey, better to learn on something that nobody needs anymore, not new pieces of hardware, so I guess you're right Matir.

Anyways, I still think I'll do it, just to check it out. I mean, clusters are really interesting, i guess I won't really get them until i do everything myself. Just a couple of questions though.
First, What software (like distro, etc.) should i use? I understand that the features like X-Window manager would probably be cut off, right? It's not hard to do everything in text mode, but still, for me it's a challenge. And second, what use can this kind of cluster be? I understand that i won't be TREMENDOUS, but there must be something, no?

Ok. The hardwares is waiting 'till anybody picks it up. I don't think anybody even wants to think about taking it (they were servers a long time ago, cases and PS's are nice, but mobo and actually everything else is "a bit" old...), so I can positively say that it's mine.

The only thing that I might need (if you suggest it) is gigabit-lan NIC's. Or are they not necessary? Not even sure they'll work with those boxes anyway...

So, just try to answer some questions from this mess I call a "reply", and i'll be happy. :-)
 
Old 02-17-2005, 03:38 PM   #4
Sarcha
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You may be interested in checking out Mosix or open mosix. I played around with them and they are really easy to use and setup. I used Clark Connect and just replaced the kernel and everything started to work. They even automatically sense when a new node joins the cluster.

Good Luck!
 
Old 02-17-2005, 08:46 PM   #5
Matir
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I've now gotten quite curious myself. I wish I could find some way to practice/play with clustering without needing all the hardware. I know hardware isn't that hard to come across, just don't have it right now. 2 of my boxes that I was using for development/testing have now been forced into use for production purposes.
 
Old 02-18-2005, 11:17 AM   #6
svinka
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MOSIX looks very good, i'll check it out definately if i make a cluster! Thanx Sarcha!

svinka
 
Old 05-17-2006, 01:00 AM   #7
FostersMan
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Question A beowolf cluster

Hey, I have 35 pII computers with 64mb to 128mb of ram. I have been thinking about building a cluster. My friend suggested I check out your posts. Well, tell me what you think about my pII's, and I'm planning to use a pIII for the main computer.
 
Old 05-17-2006, 12:35 PM   #8
geletine
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i have a p3 800 128mb and a amd64 3200+ 2gb ram, i guess making a cluster of them would be no benefit, as alot of the amd64 power would be lost to the p3 to even the procceses out.
 
  


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