Uses for a beowulf cluster?

[Jeffrey Moyer]

==> Regarding Uses for a beowulf cluster?; Shachar Tal <shachar@vipe.technion.ac.il> adds:

shachar> Hi,

shachar> The university I work for is considering switching from it's
shachar> monstrous multi-CPU computers to Linux Beowulf clusters. I've been

	excellent.

[snip]	
shachar> What we want to do is make, let's say, a 16-node cluster and let
shachar> users log in to the cluster (via telnet, ssh, whatever) and do
shachar> whatever they usually
do> read their mail, telnet elsewhere, run netscape, use gcc, you get the
shachar> picture.

shachar> My question is: Will a beowulf do the job or is it not up to the
shachar> job? Has anyone done such a thing?

	Hrm.  Beowulf clusters are not geared toward interactive user
	sessions.  They are mainly used (and i use that phrase cautiously)
	to perform large parallel tasks.  However, I am currently working
	on a project that will allow for transparent process migration in
	the beowulf system.  This could suit your needs.

	I don't have a time-line on when I should be finished (school and
	work keep me plenty busy), so I will give you some pointers to
	other projects which accomplish the same goal.

	http://www.cnds.jhu.edu/mirrors/mosix/
	http://www.cos.ufrj.br/nomad/  -- not available just yet

	None others come to mind, but that certainly doesn't mean there
	aren't any.  :-)  Oh, if you want to keep up with my progress, you
	can check here:

	http://segfault.ind.wpi.edu/ProcessMigration/

	Regards,

		Jeff