Hey Alma- There are Beowolf (Supercomputer) clusters, which require special programming to solve complex calculations, etc.... Work bits are handed off to members of the cluster and the resulting data is returned to the Master computer(s) of the cluster)
There are distributed computational clusters like SETI (which is similar to the above setup). There are many other cluster types available, including loadbalancing clusters and failover clusters. But even within these two types of clustering, you also need to determin the services you are attempting to cluster. Some clusters, like a database cluster, are part of the application which is being clustered, eg. Oracle has its own clustering built in and maintained within Oracle. Samba clustering is NOT included in the application, but can be obtained by come-along software like heartbeat and drbd. SuSE 8.2 pro comes with all types of clustering software. I believe there is even a scientific cluster software included, although it is not Beowolf. HTH On Sat, 09 Aug 2003 16:10:55 -0500 Alma J Wetzker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > "Net Llama!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Fri, 08 Aug 2003 21:03:34 -0700 > > > > On 08/08/03 20:38, Alma J Wetzker wrote: > > > >>>> "Net Llama!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>>> Fri, 08 Aug 2003 15:26:25 -0700 > >>>> On 08/08/03 15:04, Alma J Wetzker wrote: > >>>> > >>>>> Our IEEE chapter at school is going to setup a linux cluster. Does > >>>>> anyone have any experience/advice/interesting opinions about doing > >>>>> so? I am wondering if there is a good distro or any other > >>>>> wonderfulnes that will make the thing fun and last the semester. > >>>> > >>>> What do you plan to use it for? 'clusters' have *ALOT* of different > >>>> meanings and uses, and that is heavily dependent on how you set one up. > >> > >> We plan on using it to learn how to setup clusters. > > > > Let me rephrase. You're asking 'how do i setup a cluster'. I stated > > that there is no such thing as one type of cluster. Its as if you asked > > 'how do i create software?'. There's not a single type of software, or > > even a single programming language to write the software. > > > Sorry Lonnie, I do know the difference but I really don't have a single > type of cluster in mind. What I meant to ask is if anyone on the list > has setup a cluster, if so, what type and what distribution was used? > > I would like to setup a cluster consisting of a single virtual machine > as I think that can be the most flexible. As I am not the only person > working on the project I can't be more specific for a few weeks. I am > just trying to use personal resources in addition to google and other > various search engines and 900 pages of documentation. > > >> My personal interest is distributed applications, so a virtual machine > >> running a database would be good. But we don't have the disk space to > >> make it worthwhile. I hope to use more than one configuration before > >> we are done. > > > > Well, there are alot of different types of databases out there, some > > with excellent clustering support, some without. Oracle & DB2 have > > pretty decent distributed processing support. The amount of diskspace > > isn't really an issue unless you plan to start dumping large chunks of > > data into the DB. Otherwise, a database will remain as small as you > > want it to. > > > Most of my paid work has been Oracle where I end up using triggers and > stuff to accomplish what I need to get done. I am trying to figure out > MySQL right now and perhaps PostgreSQL next year. Most of my test data > is quite large as I need to test MANY configurations and options. > > > Like i already said, clusters are not a singular thing, like apache, or > > fortran programming. Its a very broad field, and you need to think > > about what part of it you're interested in persuing, as there isn't a > > single method that applies to everything. A cluster is just more than > > one physical computer working together to accomplish a single task. Be > > it data storage, numerical computation, graphic rendering, or something > > else altogether. Once you figure that out with a degree of specificity, > > then you can move towards determining how to set one up. > Since I don't know, or care, which direction I am going with this, ANY > help or direction from the list is valuable. (Especially questions like > yours!) > > Thanks! > > -- Alma > > _______________________________________________ > Linux-users mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> http://www.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users -- Matthew Carpenter [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.eisgr.com/ Enterprise Information Systems *Network Consulting, Integration & Support *Web Development and E-Business _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> http://www.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
