ACM TechNews

Building an HPC Linux Cluster Has Gotten Simpler, Beowulf Leader Says

SearchEnterpriseLinux.com (07/24/08) Derringer, Pam

Donald Becker, who helped launch NASA's Beowulf Project, notes that more than 75 percent of high-performance computing (HPC) systems costing $1 million or more run Linux, according to the Top500 supercomputer list. An even higher percentage of machines costing $50,000 to $1 million run Linux, with most of them using the Beowulf model, Becker says. After the Beowulf Project proved the feasibility of low-cost cluster computing, the team worked on other problems that made commodity-based HPC challenging, including designing better hardware, building in diagnostics, adding debugging features, tuning the BIOS settings, creating libraries, and improving software. However, significant hurdles remain. Becker says building a HPC cluster is still too complex and requires extensive training to install, configure, and use, and long-term administration is also difficult. He says HPC systems built on the Beowulf model still need more power, plug-in capabilities, reliable booting, and improved software and networking to create a unified system that is easier to manage. Becker is now working on making HPC Linux clusters more accessible by automating the configuration of the operating system, enabling a single full install on a master node with a diskless, single-system image. He is also working with the Linux community to improve the network boot process to allow it to automatically identify any hardware and upload the correct drivers.

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