diskless nodes? (was Re: Xbox clusters?)

[Velocet]

On Wed, Dec 05, 2001 at 03:40:01PM -0800, Brian LaMere's all...
> I spent less than $100,000 on a 48 node dual-1ghz p3 cluster with 2gb ram
> each, and hot-swappable 18gb 15krpm drives (all in a 1-U rackmounted
> footprint!).  Of course, I cheated at the time (VA linux firesale)...but I
> could do the same thing again for about $125,000 in today's prices with
> systems that someone else builds, and has a year warranty.
> 
> advancedclustering.com, for instance.  For $2537, you get dual p3- 1ghz cpu,
> 18gb 10krpm hotswap scsi, and 2 gb ram.  All in a 1-U package, all with a 1
> year warranty.  Extended warranties available.

Wondering why everyone gets local drives here - do you people have
computational software that needs to write scratch or swap faster than
100Mbps (12.5MB/s) or even GBE (125MB/s theoretical, 35-50MB/s actual)? Isnt
that fast enough?

Why arent diskless netbooting clusters more popular?

/kc