[Beowulf] Re: portable clusters

[Jim Lux]

At 08:12 AM 11/28/2005, David Mathog wrote:
>Jim Lux <James.P.Lux at jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
>
> > Has anyone done a diskless cluster (i.e. boot the nodes off the network)
> > where the nodes run Linux but the headnode/server is a WinXP/Win2K box?
> >
> > Think in terms of booting off the drive in a laptop.
> >
> > The application is one where the raw data that's being processed is
> > collected by peculiar hardware for which only windows drivers are
>available.
>
>It would probably be a lot less work to move the data off of
>the Windows box and onto a regular linux/unix headnode and then work
>from there.  To do so you will only need a little script to
>push or pull the data, and then all the rest of the cluster
>configuration tools would be on the linux side, and would be
>programs that you already have and are already familiar with.

Moving the data in this scenario isn't the problem, it's the diskless 
cluster needing to get its boot images from somewhere, and that somewhere 
being a WinXP laptop.  The cluster itself could be almost any sort of nodes.



James Lux, P.E.
Spacecraft Radio Frequency Subsystems Group
Flight Communications Systems Section
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 161-213
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
tel: (818)354-2075
fax: (818)393-6875