Phoenix Network Forums

I read some where about a home made super computer that ran off 6 old sun boxes and a copy of free bsd (I cant remember where I read this but was wondering if anyone could tell me how it would work?)
Im sorry its so vague but I want to find out how to do it myself so if you have any information please could you post it?

Hmm interesting, if you find out, go post some info here :D

Network coprocessing i gues, thats quite powerfull.
But it realy uses quite a bit of the network.

I guess that's not what you are looking for, but you might be interested in the Beowulf HOWTO.

A friend of mine had published a link in his blog(hebrew) about a super computer which was checked in slashdot's hardware article and which price was right.

thanx the closest one (i think) was what mm-freak posted; http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/Beowulf-HOWTO.html
I cant wait to scrape the money together and have a go

mm_freak wrote:I guess that's not what you are looking for, but you might be interested in the Beowulf HOWTO.

Beowulf is a good starting point...

You can look at Rocks Cluster as well, it what I recommend.
http://www.rocksclusters.org/Rocks/

Rocks is a complete "cluster on a CD" solution for x86 and IA64 Red Hat Linux COTS clusters. Building a Rocks cluster does not require any experience in clustering, yet a cluster architect will find a flexible and programmatic way to redesign the entire software stack just below the surface (appropriately hidden from the majority of users). Although Rocks includes the tools expected from any clustering software stack (PBS, Maui, GM support, Ganglia, etc), it is unique in its simplicity of installation.

Another CD based Cluster system which is pretty good is
is based on the LiveCD knoppix Distro.
http://www.knoppix.net/

KnoppixCluster. <-- This is the CLUSTER!
http://bofh.be/clusterknoppix/

More Clusters...
Open Source Cluster Application Resources
http://oscar.openclustergroup.org/

(for reading on NCSA)
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/AboutUs/FocusAreas/skill_sets9.html

Other LIVE Knoppix CD CLUSTERS

Bootable Cluster
The BCCD does share similarities with a few diskless solutions for clustering, such as the Warewulf project, the thin-OSCAR approach, Cluster Knoppix (only an openMosix system, no MPI/LAM/PVM build tools, ...), and so on. This is definitely the trend in HPC. But the main differences are that the BCCD will always fit in your pocket, be highly customizable for specific institutions' needs, and will always be geared toward education and not dedicated clusters
http://bccd.cs.uni.edu/

There used to be..

Parrarrell Knoppix
(but the server seems to be down.. that one was fairly popular as well.)

Another interesting project is OpenMosix. The main part of it is a kernel patch and the goal is to provide clustered computing as transparent as possible.

cool

There are plenty of ways to cluster several boxes (the most well-known of which are mentioned above already), but actually making anything approaching "supercomputer" levels will take more resources that the average person will have at home. It is, however, a fun thing to do and a good way to practice parallel programming.

Ok lets do this right.. So I want the sha-bang in my basement and I have the lottery winnings paying for it..!

Well You need the support systems first..

Well you need power
at least one good facility generator and UPS regulator and gel batteries..
Fire suppression HFC-227 HALON alternative.. (cant have my computer burning down my house)

Floor tiles.. and
Cable management system..

Air Conditioner / Dehumidifer for raised flooring

Lets not get into.. transformers and high rate electrical grounding of the building

Be prepared for the Noise

Before we go any further.. it's getting loud in here! Grab a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones for yourself and me please!

And so I can sleep in my bedroom Residential Sound Sound Issolation construction

Moving on to support telecom..
We need a Super High Speed Fiber drop.. like ATM(not your banking machine..lol), SONET, STM..
so we grab a ATM switch

T1 channel bank with a handle full of CSU's if I want to let some of my friends into my WAN.

Have a switching backbone of around 1.6 Tera/bits per second with Black Diamond Extreme Switchs

Not to mention the routing facilities.. cant be having a puggy CISCO 2500 do that work.. WHAM!.. CISCO CRS-1 system

We need a few server cabinet racks too..

We need tools cuz of the fiber..
so Fusion Splicer
a fiber tester (Bit error rate testing) by ACTERNA .. (T-BERDs, FIREBERDs,etc..) spring for a new one that does DWDM MTS-8000
a few floor pull tools..
gots have rj-45 crimpers, wire strippers, copper testers, multimeters (high voltage clamp), osilloscopes and everything else, otherwise you should have stopped long time ago..

Moving on Building the computer..
First you need a workstation huh.. SGI FUEL

A way to access remotely all those hardware boxes from the workstation..IP KVM.. (I'm not sitting in no dark corner.. for hours for initial configs.) and just in case from the racks themselves via flatscreen 1U monitor KVM

Something to view it with.. ah we'll be cheap, 3 x 19in monitors on a single wall swivel mount

Take a few SGI Origins 3400's to handle memory buffering and job management between the silo and the big-gun...(yeah no kidding)

Add a StorageTek Tape Silo for massive storage tape library at least in the order of 76 terabytes

Pull out the Big-gun for the FINAL STEP CRAY X1E hope you know how to setup job requests. .

(OH.. and there's that little thing about security which isnt here at all.. we'll just call hmm. Sourcefire, Cisco, ISS or somebody thow in an IDS)

** yeah so I left out alot of other things.. and its all very loose.. dont ask for the schematics or net flow cuz I'll hit you! Hey at least its a start hope you liked it..**

No comment. =)

I could proly do that with my comps now.
I have win serv 2003 here on this one, and their is an option called cluster configuration