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Cluster Workstations. Cluster Workstations. Recently the distinction between parallel and distributed computers has become blurred with the advent of the network of workstations.
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Cluster Workstations Recently the distinction between parallel and distributed computers has become blurred with the advent of the network of workstations. Network of workstations (NOW) is a cluster of workstations interconnected through a high-speed switch usually confined to a single room, communication latency of these machines approach that of conventional parallel computers. Are these parallel or distributed computers?! because of the close physical proximity of the machines, they are characterized as parallel computers, Often, these systems are classified as distributed machines. Because these machines often include aspects common to both parallel and distributed computers, the characterization is perhaps not so important. http://shrike.depaul.edu/~hdesai1/420/rhee.html
Cluster Workstations Availability a percentage measure of the degree to which machinery and equipment is in an operable and committable state at the point in time when it is needed.” • Inexpensive alternative to traditional supercomputers • High availability • Lower down time • Easier access • Machines acting in parallel across: • Stand alone computers • A local high speed network (LAN). • Group of loosely coupled computers that work together closely so that they can be viewed as a single computer. • Employ all processors to perform one large task: • Parallel Processing • all processors perform one large task • High Performance Computing (HPC)
Cluster Characteristics Commodity off the shelf hardware Networked Common Home Directories Open source software and OS Support message passing programming Batch scheduling of jobs Process migration
Why are Linux Clusters Good? Low initial implementation cost Inexpensive PCs Standard components and Networks Free Software: Linux, GNU, MPI, PVM Scalability: can grow and shrink Familiar technology, easy for user to adopt the approach, use and maintain system.
Example Clusters July 1999 1000 nodes Used for genetic algorithm research by John Koza, Stanford University www.genetic-programming.com/
Largest Cluster System IBM BlueGene, 2007 DOE/NNSA/LLNL Memory: 73728 GB OS: CNK/SLES 9 Interconnect PowerPC 440 106,496 nodes 478.2 Tera FLOPS on LINPACK