Linux Clustering Software

For those who have constructed a "beowulf style" linux based cluster
solution which "free" software solution is best. OpenMOSIX,Oscar, or
others.

can anyone describe any problems that were encountered while
constructing their cluster.

J. Taylor wrote:
> For those who have constructed a "beowulf style" linux based cluster
> solution which "free" software solution is best. OpenMOSIX,Oscar, or
> others.
>
> can anyone describe any problems that were encountered while
> constructing their cluster.

Hi.

OpenMosix, Oscar, Mpi, etc do different things.
None of them is the "best" - it all depends on what you are trying to
do. What are you trying to do? Examples:

Compile farm/distributed batch reencoding of your mp3 - probably OpenMosix.
Parallel applications, such as those in computational chemistry -
probably MPI/LAM.

I use combination of OpenMosix/MPIch on our experimental cluster at
school for running GAMESS and NAMD.

Many things can go wrong - your best bet is probably reading the Fine
Manual before you start. Really.
And using good hardware. Hardware was a big issue for me since i had to
use whatever parts were given to me. *Most* of the setup time was spent
troubleshooting little hardware problems.

The other big problem is network bandwidth - you probably want to invest
in Gbit or Myrinet network unless you just want to play around.

>
> OpenMosix, Oscar, Mpi, etc do different things.
> None of them is the "best" - it all depends on what you are trying to
> do. What are you trying to do? Examples:
>
> Compile farm/distributed batch reencoding of your mp3 - probably OpenMosix.

I couldn't help but reading this thread... distributed batch encoding
sounds something I'd like to get into.

Im just wondering if its possible to use a group of other Linux
computers to provide additional horse power to a Windows XP machine?
I've got involved in video, making DVD's, and I've been making MPEG's
that I find I need to transcode to a lower bitrate. On a single Windows
machine, this is usually very slow. It would be great if I could add
another computer (based on Linux) or two or four or eight eventually to
have the transcoding done infinately quicker.

Of course though, Im guessing two major factors, 1) The transcoding
software is on Windows XP, so finding anything like clustering for
Windows XP and Linux wouldn't be free I'd guess. 2) Network bandwidth.

Cya
Simon

it may be possible to perform this using VMware a software package
that runs windows xp emulation using linux. (windows runs on top of
linux, switching is instant)

J. Taylor wrote:
> it may be possible to perform this using VMware a software package
> that runs windows xp emulation using linux. (windows runs on top of
> linux, switching is instant)

only three problems I can think of then, is that you still need another
Windows license, you will need to pay for VMWare, and it'll be slow.
Speaking of VMWare, anyone know the status of using it under linux to
play FLight Simulator 2004? Im still waiting to ditch Windows. Its only
Flight Sim that's keeping me here.

Cya
Simon

> Im just wondering if its possible to use a group of other Linux
> computers to provide additional horse power to a Windows XP machine?
> I've got involved in video, making DVD's, and I've been making MPEG's
> that I find I need to transcode to a lower bitrate. On a single Windows
> machine, this is usually very slow. It would be great if I could add
> another computer (based on Linux) or two or four or eight eventually to
> have the transcoding done infinately quicker.

I am very ignorant of the MPEG coding and of Windows, so i cant really
help you there. I dont know if what you are trying to do is possible,
but it is not possible with OpenMosix - since it is a Linux kernel
extension. You probably can find good software to do reencoding on Linux
and go all Linux.
If you can split the whole file into chunks, reencode them on the
separae machines and recombine it - you would have somethign like a
Hollywood cluster. :-).

Couple softwares come to mind.

One is Cinelerra (i spelt it right) http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3

The other one is MJPEG
This is a little blurb about doing distributed encoding with MJPEG.
https://sourceforge.net/docman/displ..._id=5776#toc11

I am not a professional video guy and i am pretty ingorant about all the
details. I have used MJPEG programs, they did what i wanted. Cinelerra
had some good reviews from folks at LWN.


> Of course though, Im guessing two major factors, 1) The transcoding
> software is on Windows XP, so finding anything like clustering for
> Windows XP and Linux wouldn't be free I'd guess. 2) Network bandwidth.

I really doubt network bandwidth (i assum 10/100 mbits) is going to be a
big issue if you are just doing encoding. Time to encode an Ogg file is
much greater then reading and writing it to NFS export for example.