makings of a junk yard cluster ??

[Ansar Mohammed]

Ideally you need to define what you mean by a "cluster"
Depending on who you talk to practical clusters are very different.

The most common industry type cluster is called a "shared nothing" cluster.
It is basically two or more physical servers connected to the same storage
subsystem where data only resides. Traditionally the application executables
reside on the servers themselves, facilitating what is known as a rolling
upgrade.
Since you probably don't have a shared disk or SAN you can do this by using
geom on FreeBSD or iSCSI on linux/Windoze. This type of cluster is typical
for database applications. 

The second type of cluster is "load balanced" where multiple machines
"share" a logical IP Address and distribute the load evenly or unevenly
between them. You can use carp for IP sharing and rsync for data synch.
This is typically used for web servers, dns etc.. where data is minimal,
auto replicated(as in DNS) or static. This is practical in your environment
since you can actually put these machines to good use. 

The third type of cluster is the distributed cluster using MPI or PVM etc.
This is typically used for distributing load in computational problems. 





> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org [mailto:owner-freebsd-
> questions at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Arden
> Sent: November 15, 2005 9:16 AM
> To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> Subject: makings of a junk yard cluster ??
> 
> Hi Folk
> 
> like most people involved in IT you tend to build you a "junk yard" of
> redundant machines
> 
> Ive just been through mine and found could at a push make 5 x86 PCs
> 
> 2x amd 400mhz
> 2x via 700mhz
> 1x amd duron 1200
> 
> also have lots of spare nic cards
> 
> Ive never looked at clusters before and this is just for fun (must have
> way to much time on my hands) :)
> 
> So I need to know would it be possible to build a cluster from these ?
> I'm not sure if the nodes need to be matched in any way ?
> 
> dose anyone know where to find an idiots to setting one up ?
> 
> also what would the equivelent power be i.e would i just be making a
> 1gig space heater ?
> 
> Arden
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