beowulf cluster configuration.

[Schilling, Richard]

Pedro,

You've gotten some good advice on this thread, so I won't reproduce it, but
you
are well advised to take your time to read up on Beowulf clusters.  There's
even been a book or two written, so get one.  But, scyld from what I've
heard
runs well out of the box.  


> It's important to know that you will have to provide somehow the 
> infrastructure to make this happen. You'll have to choose 
> your programming 
> technique, your system configuration, etc... There are 
> several solutions out 
> there which provide almost out-of-the-box beowulf solutions. 
> Take a look at 
> Scyld (http://www.scyld.com). What I want to express is that 
> the application 
> you are trying to run on a beowulf won't run faster if it's 
> not somehow 
> designed or modified to run in parallel

Can't stress enough the importance of laying out your infrastructure. You
can make the 
assumption, given a budget, that you can get the equipment (that's kind of
the point of 
a Beowulf).  But, you really need to focus first on the data you're working
with, whether
or not it can be manipulated using parallel programming -vs- distributed
techniques, and
how much data you expect to work with.  Once you have that, pick your
hardware.  Plan on
getting some upper end PC's $1000 - $2000 range, some good networking
equipment like switches
and cards (if the cards are not integrated into the motherboards), and be
sure to find a room
with *good* air conditioning (or build the cluster next to an iceberg).
That's a *VERY SIMPLE*
explanation. 

If you need help beyond that, contact me offline and I can help.  

Of course, you should search this list's archives for hints on hardware,
benchmarking, etc . . . 



Richard Schilling
Webmaster / Web Integration Programmer
Affiliated Health Services
Mount Vernon, WA USA
http://www.affiliatedhealth.org
phone: 360.856.7129