[SGVLUG] linux cluster redo

[jmd]

On Aug 2, 2006, at 5:25 PM, Erik Espinoza wrote:

> Hey Jeff,
>
> Clusters are a generic term for a type of technology. It really
> depends on what you are trying to do. An Apache web cluster is
> different than a MPICH farm or a parallel job farm.

this was mentioned in the posts in the spring. i know very little  
about sys administration. this is a two fold project. one to actually  
sit down and decide what hardware suits my needs and then learn a bit  
about administering the cluster. and as said before, this is just a  
*home project*. my thoughts are to focus on doing  
climateprediction.net  for starters and use something like npaci- 
rocks as it come with everything needed like a good MPI.

what i am looking at hardware wise is older opteron/xeon based  
systems with gigabit ethernet. (i certainly cannot afford an sgi  
altix with itaniums and NUMAflex interconnects.) one of the questions  
i kick around is, should i have a single processor motherboard or  
dual or even quad? i know in the sgi origins the NUMAflex  
architecture affords global addressing. without global addressing  
there might be serious latency issues. if i am using gigabit ethernet  
will i be having latency problems if i use 4 systems each with dual  
or quad cpus? it would seem to me that the cpu interconnects on a  
multiprocessor board would be much faster than the gigabit ethernet  
from board to board. so one board contains results and another board  
is still working. board one might be sitting there tapping its foot  
waiting for board two.

getting back to the original question... i don't know enough to know  
what i want. :) something under 1000$ i can play with to learn. not  
being a computer professional i am not sure of what questions to ask.  
or proper terminology.

jeff


>
> Then there are specific app clusters, like some gentoo users use
> distcc to compile from stage 1 in under 3 months.


>
> Erik
>
> On 8/2/06, jmd <jmd8800 at charter.net> wrote:
>> last spring i asked a question about having a very fast head node in
>> comparison to the other nodes.  that particular set of hardware was
>> not working out (cheap stuff from ebay) and i canned the project
>> until i got moved into a new place. since i parted those ibm eseries
>> out to recover my money i need to look at buying hardware again.
>>
>> someone on this list mentioned they had a lot of experience with
>> clusters. if i could, i'd like to pick your brain a little bit before
>> i start buying again. if you are still interested in offering some
>> advice please contact me off list.
>>
>> i know :)....i should archive my email so this request would not be
>> necessary.
>>
>> thanks
>> jeff duncan
>>