[Beowulf] Virtualization in head node ?

[Reuti]

Am 14.09.2009 um 20:04 schrieb David Ramirez:

> Still a newbie in HPC, in the first stages of building a Beowulf  
> cluster (8 nodes).
>
> I wonder if anybody out there has used Linux virtual machines in  
> the head node, just to be able to experiment with different  
> configurations & deployments and jump back without much effort if  
> things go bad. Considering (out of experience in desktop) VMWare or  
> Sun Virtualbox. Any hints, comments ?

I was also just thinking of it in the last couple of days. In the  
past often a dedicated login- and dedicated file-server was used to  
split the load. Putting the login-node in a virtual machine will  
still keep the users away from the file-server, but allows you to  
combine them in one piece of metal when it's powerful enough. Or  
maybe even one virtual login node per user, when you don't allow  
anyone seeing the actions of others.

To operate Sun VirtualBox w/o the graphical interface is possible,  
and you can also direct the virtual console to any remote machine  
using "rdesktop" as client on any platform you like.

-- Reuti


> David Ramirez
> Grad Student CIS
> Prairie View A&M University, Texas
>
> -- 
> | David Ramirez Molina
> | davidramirezmolina at gmail.com
> | Houston, Texas - USA
>
> Ancora Imparo (Aún aprendo) - Michelangelo a los 80 años
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