Beowulf vs. MOSIX

[dmanddmer]

Mark,

Are you sacrificing the visualization capabilties for faster backend
computing?  Obviously, the cpu power is your primary consideration.  Are
you keeping the SGI's as simply display stations?  Or is 3D/4D even a
consideration in your imagery?

David

Mark Lucas wrote:
> 
> Peter,
> 
> That is our opinion at AGIS/ImageLinks.  We process satellite and aerial
> imagery which stresses CPU, bandwidth and storage.  We have just concluded
> porting all of our code to run on LInux and are in the process of removing
> all of the SGIs and Suns replacing them with dual CPU Pentium boxes.  More
> horsepower and substantially lower cost.  We have been looking at MPI and
> PVM in our code thinking of BeoWulf clusters, but after attending LinuxExpo
> we have decided that Mosix is a better fit - especially given our workflow.
> We were impressed by how quickly the clusters at the show installed it and
> tried it out.  Wiring PVM and MPI into the code is definitely desired so
> that there is more to spread around.
> 
> Mark
> 
> >It seems to me that for business applications, MOSIX might be a better way
> >to go as a quick and easy way to take advantage of clusters.  With its load
> >balancing and transparent process migration, even existing serial
> >applications should be able to take advantage of the power of clusters.
> >With Beowulf, on the other hand, one must parallelize the code in order to
> >see any improvement in performance.
> >
> >Is this assessment accurate?  Any comments?
> >
> >---
> >Peter Szwedyk
> >Goldman, Sachs & Co.
> >Securities Lending Technology
> >One New York Plaza, 48th Floor
> >New York, NY  10004
> >Phone: 212-357-8105 | Fax: 212-428-1405
> 
> ******************
> Mark R. Lucas
> Chief Technical Officer
> 
> AGIS/ ImageLinks, Inc.
> 4450 West Eau Gallie Blvd.
> Suite 164, Perimeter Center
> Melbourne, Florida 32934
> 
> (407) 253-0011 (work)
> (407) 253-5559 (fax)
> (407) 725-6842 (home)
> (407) 693-6842 (cellular)
> 
> email:   mlucas@imagelinks.com
> http://www.imagelinks.com
> *******************