[Beowulf] quick and dirty cluster demo

[Geoff Jacobs]

Jim Lux wrote:
> I was recently asked about how one would go about doing a quick cluster
> demo with the following configuration:
> 
> a laptop running a TBD version of Linux
> a bunch (4-16) of diskless nodes  (implying that they need to netboot
> with PXE, etc.)
> all connected with ethernet..
> 
> Seems like something like warewulf would do this nicely, but are there
> other alternatives? ClusterKnoppix?
Cluster Knoppix looks like the thing to use. YMMV, etc. Means you could
keep the laptop virgin.
http://bofh.be/clusterknoppix

> And then, what's a nice demo showing speedup?  POVray rendering?  glitz
> and flashy is important, raw speed is not.  It would be nice if you had
> something that took, say, 30 seconds to run on just the laptop, and
> then, as you add nodes, it gets faster and faster.
Use gmandel, maybe? Cluster knoppix supports pvm3, but not MPI of any sort.

Sorry, Jim, about double posting.

-- 
Geoffrey D. Jacobs

Go to the Chinese Restaurant,
Order the Special