[Beowulf] Why Do Clusters Suck?

[Douglas Eadline - ClusterWorld Magazine]

So why do clusters suck?

Not that I want to start a flame war or anything (at least not yet).

This question is a backhand way of saying "What do we need to move the
cluster community forward and make clusters better?" If you have been
reading ClusterWorld you may have noticed that we have recently been
hinting at this question.

To help organize this process, we have begun the The Cluster Agenda
Initiative (http://www.clusterworld.com/agenda06/).

The web page explains it pretty well, but in short the Agenda is an effort
to try and to help "get the community a bit more organized". It is meant
to be the starting point and road map where resources, best practices and
challenges are identified - it is NOT an endpoint or a standards document.

In order to determine what the "issues" are, we were invited by Tom
Sterling to ask the question "Why do Clusters Suck?". You can supply your
answer at:

http://basement-supercomputing.com/agenda/agendaform.html

I invite users, administrators, vendors, and anyone remotely interested 
clusters, to check out the site and either fill out the form or contact
me directly. Your input is important. 

We are going to finalize the Agenda Framework at the ClusterWorld Summit
in May.

Doug
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