Hard Disk or not Hard Disk

[Chris Worley]

Benjamin Forgeau wrote:
>         I'm wondering if it's reasonnable to build a Linux Cluster without HardDisk but with NFS. Does anyone have ideas about it??
> 

I find diskless booting:

1) is the only way to debug device drivers (kernel crashes don't lead to
corrupt disks).

2) is easier to keep a cluster homogeneous (if all nodes share the same
root, with the exception of etc, var, dev, and tmp, which I keep as ram
disks).

3) programs load a lot slower (but if everything you're doing runs as
daemons, then only your startup time is effected).

4) is less prone to disk failure (if your disks are 2 years MTBF, and
you're running 12 nodes, MTBF is now 2 months).

5) is the quickest way to bring new hardware on line (a new node doesn't
need to be loaded with software if it boots disklessly).

So, Yes, it's very reasonable.  But most don't.

Chris