[Beowulf] building a new cluster

[Joachim Worringen]

SC Huang wrote:
> I am about to order a new cluster using a $100K grant for running our 
> in-house MPI codes. I am trying to have at least 36-40 (or more, if 
> possible) nodes. The individual node configuration is:
>  
> dual Xeon 2.8 GHz
> 512K L2 cache, 1MB L3 cache, 533 FSB
> 2GB DDR RAM
> gigabit NIC
> 80 GB IDE hard disk
>  
> The network will be based on a gigabit switch. Most vendors I talked 
> to use HP Procurve 2148 or 4148.
>  
> Can anyone comment on the configuration (and the switch) above? Any 
> other comments (e.g. recommeded vendor, etc) are also welcome.

Do you know what kind of system your codes run best on? You should do 
some tests before spending $100k. This concerns the CPUs, the 
interconnect, but also the question if you need a hard disk in each node.

And think about how much effort you are able to spend on the software 
side of the cluster.

  Joachim

-- 
Joachim Worringen - NEC C&C research lab St.Augustin
fon +49-2241-9252.20 - fax .99 - http://www.ccrl-nece.de