-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Lab to sample Linux for weapons work Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 15:06:56 -0400 From: Velocet math@velocet.ca To: beowulf@beowulf.org References: Pine.LNX.4.33.0209261548330.8588-100000@hydrogen.leitl.org
On Thu, Sep 26, 2002 at 03:49:39PM +0200, Eugen Leitl's all...
There's a major difference compared with Livermore system, though: The Los Alamos machine has no hard drives. Instead, each computer fires up using software pulled over the network with the assistance of software called LinuxBIOS developed by LANL programmer Ron Minnich and others. LinuxBIOS also dramatically speeds the startup process to about two seconds, said Jason Lowry, Linux NetworX's product manager for cluster management tools.
And what filesystem are they using for this? Surely its not NFS! Must be some sort of cluster filesystem no? Anyone know? Something open sourced? What decent clustre filesystems are out there?
/kc
Shunning hard drives cuts cost and power consumption, but more importantly, it improves reliability, Roundy said.
"If you think about what things are going to fail in a system, it's the hard disk or fan or power supply or something with moving parts," Roundy said.
Linux NetworX could benefit greatly from convincing the Los Alamos and Livermore labs that Linux clusters are worthwhile. The labs are funded by the Energy Department's Advanced Simulation and Computing program, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to advance supercomputing using machines made of comparatively inexpensive components.
The DOE program has underwritten many of the world's fastest computers, according to university researchers who monitor raw calculation speed at the Top500 organization. The program has underwritten Nos. 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 15 on the most recent ranking.
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