"I just wanted to know what hardware (# of CPU, Memory, HDD) shoud be considered
for the master server that can serve the 12-15 nodes?"
Here is a list of computers that Parallel Virtual Machine supports.:
http://www.netlib.org/pvm3/book/node...00000000000000
Here is an index to the Parallel Virtual Machine documentation:
http://www.netlib.org/pvm3/
You could approach answering your question in either of two ways. Both ways
require you to get more information from your customer.
1. Calculate what the customer's computer load will be and then buy the
cheapest computer on the hardware list which is powerful enough to run that
load. The number of nodes is not very important in calculating load. Take some
of the customer's existing programs and run benchmarks on the computers that
you are considering buying. The computer manufacturers should be happy to allow you to run the benchmarks on their computers for free. Then sit down with the customer and find out how many programs they plan to be running in the future and calculate which of the
computers are capable of running that load.
2. Find out how much money the customer is willing to spend on a computer then
buy the most powerful computer on the list which the customer can afford. Again you may have to run benchmarks to find out which of the computers at that price is the most powerful. This could be a problem if the computer you buy is not powerful enough to run the customer's load.
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Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeBo...home.page.html
Steve Stites
