Folding the Beowulf Cluster

[King Warg²]

ok like i said i have this rather powerful beowulf sitting around with no use at all, so what better use than to give it some folding to do :attn: the front end machine runs redhat linux 6.2 with scyld beowulfing software. i plan to have at least 15 machines running on the beowulf.

can anyone give some tips to get the beowulf folding?

[TollhouseFrank]

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!

AND WELCOME TO TEAM32!!!!

being as how i am the one that introduced you to the forums, it pleases me greatly that you want to help out. however, you know me well enough to know that linux is not my strongsuit... however, i'm sure some of the ohters here will be more than happy to help out.

[Aphex_Tom_9]

oooh, clusters always intrigue me...i want to know more about them

[TalRW]

currently there is no support for cluster folding so basically each CPU has to run it's own client.

There is currently a linux (knoppix based) version designed for folding that you can find here.

http://overclockix.octeams.com/

You can set it up so you only need one HD and all the rest of your clients network boot off of it so you only need one HD.

Too bad there is no cluster support :(

[King Warg²]

hmm thats a bummer. i would have to reconfig all the machines to run new linux distro

[TalRW]

I'm not familiar with linux but there is a linux version thats normal, PM Arkaine23 about it, he is probably the person here that is most familiar with linux I would think. You can probably get it to run on redhat, I just don't know how cause I've only used that one linux distro

[TollhouseFrank]

what if he used that one that is made to boot off of cd, and run folding at home, and then linked them to the cluster head? would it work?

[9mmCensor]

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS?

Spec on the machines?

Yeah you should be able to run it off CDs, and leave the cluster install intact, to revive when a cluster edition of F@H which I belive is in the works is complete.

[TollhouseFrank]

hmm... 9mm... kingwarg is a good friend of mine (and has been for years). he's had the cluster for a while, but nothing to use it on. if there is any way he can get it running and folding, he'd finally have a way to justify having that many pc's hooked up together in his basement. LOL.

[Seven]

Hmm....
The others are right, the only effective way to run F@H with your cluster would be to set it up in a "farm" setup. As all your rigs have internet I assume, you could just run them independently, although this would be a pain. Since they're networked, I'm sure you could just run them as a server-client setup.

7

[9mmCensor]

http://forum.folding-community.org/viewtopic.php?t=9917&highlight=cluster

there ya go.

[electrorcamd]

For anybody wanting to know more about clusters, you can go here:
www.beowulf.org

I'm not sure if anybody has looked at it at all, but it has some information for those wanting it.
What are the specs of the cluster nodes?
I wanted to setup a cluster for folding, but I didn't know how it would work. All of the nodes would have been too old to fold effectively by themselves.

[King Warg²]

my nodes are partly HP vectra's @ 233MHz, i will be adding some P2 333MHz - 400MHz machines and a few p3's and AMD athlons @ 500MHz - 1.2GHz

[Seven]

Ewww. How many do you have though?

7

[moz_21]

my nodes are partly HP vectra's @ 233MHz, i will be adding some P2 333MHz - 400MHz machines and a few p3's and AMD athlons @ 500MHz - 1.2GHz

The 233's might not finish in time, so you should fold the 'no deadlines' on them, at least until the cluster version of FAH is complete.

[Seven]

They have a cluster version coming out?
*me buys rack w/ 10 layers of Xeon goodness*

7

[King Warg²]

only got 6 of those HP vectra's, but i have a good few other P2's and p3's

[King Warg²]

i just realized..my network is a mess =/ i'm going to have to do some re-wiring and whatnot, plus rebuild a bunch of nodes...

[RoadWarrior]

Hmmm interesting project you've got there. I didn't think beowulfs coped too well with asymmetric CPU power, i.e. not having everything the same speed. But last time I looked into it was a couple of years ago, so dunno if they've figured a way round that now. I was thinking of making a baby beo with half a dozen 500Mhz K6-2machines. Dunno if I'll ever get round to it though. I can't think of what the heck I'd use it for :D

[moz_21]

They have a cluster version coming out?
*me buys rack w/ 10 layers of Xeon goodness*

7
WELCOME TO THE FORUMS?

Spec on the machines?

Yeah you should be able to run it off CDs, and leave the cluster install intact, to revive when a cluster edition of F@H which I belive is in the works is complete.

I don't know, I just caught that part 9mmCensor posted...

[King Warg²]

it would work if i could get the infernal front end node to work correctly, lately it has been quite ignorant and unresponsive.

[TollhouseFrank]

that sucks. it would be nice to get 15 or 20 instances of folding Borged in a network

[King Warg²]

without a f@h supporting beowulf software the front end node is useless anyway.

[samuraisam]

Well, there are several ways to set up your cluster.

Do all of your nodes show up as individual processors to your server? If so, then there is an easy solution for you.

-Sam

[King Warg²]

each computer is recognized by the front end node as processor, RAM, and hard disk. i'm not completely certain on how scyld beowulf linux software uses the node processors

[samuraisam]

Well, if they show up as processors, and you can set affinity for them, try firing up 6 folding clients on the server all set to seperate processors (thread ID I think).

-Sam

[King Warg²]

i'm not well enough rouded into beowulfing or linux for such a task :p

[King Warg²]

is there an actual beowulf software that would treat the nodes as actual processors :?

[King Warg²]

if all else fails i will convert the entire cluster to a windows based cluster.

[TollhouseFrank]

windows based beowulf? is that possible?

[King Warg²]

on NT based platforms clustering can be done

[TollhouseFrank]

hmm... i still have that copy of win2k SP4 if ya want it, dude. just come on over. With a windows based cluster, is each CPU seen as its own instance? if so, that's a ton of Folds you can do at once (i've seen your basement laboratory... you put Dexter of Dexter's Lab to shame... LOL)

[King Warg²]

uhahaa

[samuraisam]

windows based beowulf? is that possible?

Don't cluster on NT.

Use best, use overclockix!!!

Or prehaps use other linux clustering software.
One where they just show up as processors. Like LTSP.

-Sam

[King Warg²]

i was using scyld beowulf software on redhat 6.2 but it was being an ignorant pain.

[King Warg²]

maybe someone can put me up to date on the exact meaning and principles behind "borging" and "farming"

[King Warg²]

maybe someone can put me up to date on the meaning and principles of Borging and Farming?

[TollhouseFrank]

borging... making a new folding machine.... farming... a lab or network of borgs that are folding all at once.

[Seven]

Eh....

(to) Borg- Reference to Star Trek. Bringing new folding machines to the team, built or recruited.

(to) Farm- By definition, either a high-density set of rigs running F@H dedicated, or a server serving WUs to a diskless cluster in a high-density enviornment.

7

[ghettocomp]

Don't cluster on NT.

Use best, use overclockix!!!

Or prehaps use other linux clustering software.
One where they just show up as processors. Like LTSP.

-Sam

There is some windows based version of MPI, I was able to run on Win2K, but after trying it I dont think it will do. I would just go with Overclockix (or clusterKnoppix) to do this.

I have heard that the Linux gromacs are able to be run through a cluster, but I also think that there was some cost in efficiency, Is this so?
I am in the process of constructing a Beowulf type cluster, my Big Box project, but am largely undecided what software to run yet. Any suggestions anyone?

[King Warg²]

scyld beowulf linux is relatively simple to setup, the host configuring just consists of creating a network boot.img and starting the server beosetup program, then bringing the nodes online.

[TollhouseFrank]

any luck on getting the cluster set up?

[King Warg²]

i am waiting for the f@h clustering software to be completed.