This is a good point, we've had a lot of people ask "I'd like to do
Beowulf, where do I start?" I wonder if a "getting started" or "HOWTO"
document would be helpful...
Here are some first steps (assuming you already know how to install Debian):
* Install rsh-client and rsh-server, and edit /etc/hosts.equiv on
each machine, adding each machine's name so you can rsh from
everywhere to everywhere. Oh- and make sure those are in
/etc/hosts with their IP addresses! Test with something like "rsh
hostname ls". Take note of the security implications of running
rsh (e.g. you might want to isolate the network where you're doing
this). Also, I think ssh moves rsh out of the way, which is a
pain...
* For MPI, install mpich and/or lam everywhere. Edit
/etc/mpich/machines.LINUX and/or /etc/lam/bhost.def (bhost.lam?)
to add the machine names so mpich/lam knows what's in the
cluster. With lam, "man lamboot" and act accordingly.
I don't use PVM, so I can't suggest an entry there.
The next step beyond this depends on what you're trying to do with the
cluster. If that's "solving PDEs" (e.g. fluid dynamics, heat/mass
transfer, phase field), then I'd suggest:
* Install petsc-examples, "cp -a
/usr/share/doc/petsc-examples/examples .; cd examples; make
PETSC_DIR=/usr/lib/petsc PETSC_ARCH=`petscarch` BOPT=O
testexamples", preferably in an NFS directory mounted on all of
the machines. This will build and run all of the test and
tutorial programs, running many of them in parallel. Edit the
tutorials to suit your needs, and you're done. (Note that the
finite difference stuff works well, but finite elements are still
primitive with PETSc; hopefully ParMETIS will get into woody so we
can do dynamic mesh repartitioning in parallel... :-)
For monitoring:
* Install jmon everywhere, edit ~/jmonrc to add all of the machines
in your cluster, run jmon and watch the pretty performance bars.
Other entries anyone? Diskless? FAI? Mosix? Molecular dynamics/first
principles? Is a single document of this type really a useful thing?
Zeen,
--
-Adam P.
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