[vox-tech] beowulf cluster

[Bill Broadley]

On Mon, Jan 06, 2003 at 02:48:38PM -0800, Ryan Detert wrote:
> I am looking for a good howto or a really clear book on setting up a 
> beowulf cluster. I have 3 computers and I am wondering first off if it 
> would be easier to use NFS or having each node have a completely 
> functional OS.

Hrm, thats a pretty large subject, what exactly are your goals?  Resume
fodder?  A particular application?  Parallelizing a particular code?

I'd check out:
	http://www.beowulf.org

I'd also recommend joining the beowulf mailing list (same site).

I happen to be teaching a Beowulf Design and Parallel Programming
course for the second time at the moment.

In general, in the loosest terms a beowulf is basically a collection 
of commodity hardware (i.e. pc's or similar), running an open OS, and
running some software layer for communication (I.e. MPI).  So if you
have 3 linux boxes just install MPICH:
	http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/mpi/mpich/

-- 
Bill Broadley
Mathematics
UC Davis