Paper showing Linpack scalability of mainstream clusters

[Roger L. Smith]

Bruno,

Hmmm, I thought that some of the others were purely ethernet based, but
after doing some quick research, I guess I'll stand corrected.

If you intend "mainstream" to mean only single-processor desktop-type
machines, then I'll completely concede your point.

As of the last Top 500 list, our cluster was listed as 158th, and is
entirely ethernet based, using a single 100Mb/s interconnect to each node,
and GigE interconnects between switches.  However, our nodes are 1U with
dual processors, so I guess maybe it doesn't fit the definition of
mainstream that you stated.  It doesn't predate the I-cluster, but it does
at least tie with it. :-)

-Roger

On Thu, 27 Sep 2001, RICHARD,BRUNO (HP-France,ex1) wrote:

> Hi Roger,
>
> What we mean by "mainstream" is that these could be your grandma's machine,
> unmodified except for the Software.
> Actually I-Cluster *is* the first cluster of this type to enter the TOP500.
> Some PC-based clusters are already registered there of course, but they
> cannot be called "mainstream": Most require specific (non-mainstream at
> all!) connectivity such as Myrinet, SCI, Quadrix... Some are based on PCs
> equipped with several LAN boards (not mainstream either).
> If you restrict to off-the-shelf monoprocessor (excluding non-mainstream
> Alpha, MIPS and such) interconnected through standard Ether100, no cluster
> ever entered the TOP500 list. And I-Cluster is still the only one to be
> there. Let me know if you think otherwise.
>
> Regards, -bruno
> _____________________________________________
> Bruno RICHARD - Research Program Manager
> HP Laboratories
> 38053 Grenoble Cedex 9 - FRANCE
> Phone: +33 (4) 76 14 15 38
> bruno_richard at hp.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roger L. Smith [mailto:roger at ERC.MsState.Edu]
> Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2001 15:33
> To: RICHARD,BRUNO (HP-France,ex1)
> Cc: 'Scott Shealy'; beowulf at beowulf.org
> Subject: RE: Paper showing Linpack scalability of mainstream clusters
>
>
> On Tue, 18 Sep 2001, RICHARD,BRUNO (HP-France,ex1) wrote:
>
> > Sorry Scott, I sent you a wrong reference. The actual link is
> > http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2001/HPL-2001-206.html. Enjoy,
> > -bruno
>
>
> I'd be REALLY interested in hearing how you justify the following statement
> in the paper:
>
> "Being the first ones to enter the TOP500 using only mainstream hardware
> (standard PCs, standard Ethernet connectivity)...".
>
>  _\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_
> | Roger L. Smith                        Phone: 662-325-3625               |
> | Systems Administrator                 FAX:   662-325-7692               |
> | roger at ERC.MsState.Edu                 http://WWW.ERC.MsState.Edu/~roger |
> |                       Mississippi State University                      |
> |_______________________Engineering Research
> |Center_______________________|
>


 _\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_\|/_
| Roger L. Smith                        Phone: 662-325-3625               |
| Systems Administrator                 FAX:   662-325-7692               |
| roger at ERC.MsState.Edu                 http://WWW.ERC.MsState.Edu/~roger |
|                       Mississippi State University                      |
|_______________________Engineering Research Center_______________________|