Lab to sample Linux for weapons work

Velocet math at velocet.ca
Thu Sep 26 12:06:56 PDT 2002


On Thu, Sep 26, 2002 at 03:49:39PM +0200, Eugen Leitl's all...

> There's a major difference compared with Livermore system, though: The Los 
> Alamos machine has no hard drives. Instead, each computer fires up using 
> software pulled over the network with the assistance of software called 
> LinuxBIOS developed by LANL programmer Ron Minnich and others. LinuxBIOS 
> also dramatically speeds the startup process to about two seconds, said 
> Jason Lowry, Linux NetworX's product manager for cluster management tools.

And what filesystem are they using for this? Surely its not NFS!
Must be some sort of cluster filesystem no? Anyone know? Something open
sourced? What decent clustre filesystems are out there?

/kc

> 

> Shunning hard drives cuts cost and power consumption, but more 
> importantly, it improves reliability, Roundy said.
> 
> "If you think about what things are going to fail in a system, it's the 
> hard disk or fan or power supply or something with moving parts," Roundy 
> said.
> 
> Linux NetworX could benefit greatly from convincing the Los Alamos and 
> Livermore labs that Linux clusters are worthwhile. The labs are funded by 
> the Energy Department's Advanced Simulation and Computing program, which 
> has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to advance supercomputing using 
> machines made of comparatively inexpensive components.
> 
> The DOE program has underwritten many of the world's fastest computers, 
> according to university researchers who monitor raw calculation speed at 
> the Top500 organization. The program has underwritten Nos. 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 
> and 15 on the most recent ranking.
> 
> 
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-- 
Ken Chase, math at velocet.ca  *  Velocet Communications Inc.  *  Toronto, CANADA 



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