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Diskless Cluster Running

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I'm very interested. Though I won't be doing much until it cools off a bit. Judging by the weather so far this year it won't be until summer's end. But if things go well I'll be adding another couple of systems by then. If I could eliminate the drives and cases and maybe go with integrated video I might be able to make that 3 or 4 new systems!
 
Very interested. If you could it would be nice if you could just make a simple html page that we could throw up on someones site. I can host it if you want. A few of my machines come and go sometimes because of clients that need a spare machine every once in awhile so this would be great.
 
That's a good idea. It's really quite simple now that I got the script working. All that needs to be done is download and install the K12LTSP linux distro on a machine you want to use as the server. It needs 2 nics. One will be configured via dhcp for your internet connection, and the other one is static and connects to a hub or switch which the nodes will be attached to. The installation does all of this by default. Once installed a couple of files need to be edited, which is easily done with any text editor. You need to download the seti linux client and place it in the proper folder. Take my script and put that in correct place. Then just get the correct boot disk file for the nic your nodes are using from the Rom-O-Matic web site. That's it - boot your nodes with the boot disk and you're done. Anyway I can document the process in full detail maybe this coming weekend.
 
Cool beans, TC:cool:

I'd go for it, but I now have all my systems setup with a cable router and 16 port hub. And all systems are basically complete.

Are you seeing any acceleration with is setup as a cluster running seti? Are there any other benefits besides having a diskless system?

Beer for TC:beer:
 
I'm not actually running a cluster in the true sense. I couldn't get mosix running, so I did the next best thing which is make the nodes load seti on their own when they boot up. We finally figured out there's no speed advantage to running seti on a cluster since it's not SMP enabled. The real advantage here is saving time and money. You can build one complete computer to act as the server, and the rest are just bare bones. You can add crunchers to your farm as fast as you can slap the cpu, ram, and nic into the mobo. Better yet get a board with built in lan and all you need is a cpu and ram, provided the lan can use pxe to boot without a floppy. Otherwise you still need the floppy to boot the system, but heck those are $9 a piece. If you find the system won't boot without a video card, throw in a cheap pci card. The key is to find a config that works, and copy it. You don't need a hard drive or cdrom, plus there's no time or money spent on an OS for each machine.
 
Hey TC just a couple wierd questions, what about setup's that already have a DHCP Server and what not. Take for instance my home lan has a Mandrake box running DHCP Server and Internet connection sharing in addition to a wealth of other duties, would it be possibly to do the diskless cluster within the network without defeating the purpose of what I have already in place ? Just a curiousity question, because if I were to do it the aforementioned way I think I would run into a wealth of problems being that I already have a linux computer set up to be a DHCP Server and what not.

I mean is it possible to run a diskless cluster let's say as it's own domain or something of the sort ? I think if that is possible alot of guys including me would be very interested.

Again maybe I am not making sense, lol but it sound's like it makes sense. Well let me know.

J :cool:
 
I'm sure you can change the config around a little. The nic that the nodes connect to is static in the default config and the dhcp server is running on that card. I suppose you could disable the dhcp on that and let your current mandrake box do that - so long as the diskless node has a way of contacting the correct machine to get the os image. The other nic that connects the server to the internet is set to get an IP via DHCP, so why not connect that to the server you already have running if it has an internet connection. All you've really got to do is have some way for the nodes to get an address when they boot, and make sure they can contact a seti queue server.
 
Heh, cool.
Time to start shopping!!

Couple quick questions...

Just need MB, RAM, floppy, and a NIC for each "bare PC"?

I have a Pentium 90/64MB EDO system sitting in the closet, will that work for a server, or do I need something faster?
 
Cpu also :D Since this isn't a mosix cluster and your nodes won't be doing anything other than crunching on their own, the "server" doesn't need to be that poweful. All it has to do is serve up the OS when a node boots, and redirect IP traffic when a node needs to upload or download a work unit. I'm not sure how little you can get by with for the server, but it shouldn't take a whole lot. From what I've seen so far you could get away with a pentium and maybe 64 megs ram. In a nutshell all this is doing is getting a system with no hard drive, video, and cdrom to run seti when you power it on. It just copies the OS and seti client into ram by way of the network and server. It's a farm that's cheaper to build and takes less time to setup. It's not a super computer that combines older machines to crunch units very quickly.
 
so, it could co-exit on a setup'ed local network, right? guess all it need is to change some of the network setting.

would like more info since i never use Linux..... but it sounds like a good way to grow a farm!!
 
Ok, I got a copy of K12LTSP, and the bootrom code for the lone mini-pc's. All the farm PC's will be using the same NIC's, so the bootrom code is the same for all of them.

Gonna need to know what to edit and what to change.

I'm an old school "command-line chunker", but Linux is going to be new to me.

I still need to install a floppy in the all farm PC's.
 
Another thought to add to this, if you are using just bare min's you can get by with connecting two boards to one PSU, you just need to make your own custom Y cable, I will look for the article for you guys to see how to do it. It's really rather cool, and would make it rather inexpensive to add crunchers as well.

J :cool:
 
LandShark said:
so, it could co-exit on a setup'ed local network, right? guess all it need is to change some of the network setting.

would like more info since i never use Linux..... but it sounds like a good way to grow a farm!!
Actually I don't think you have to change any network settings. The server needs to 2 nic cards one is setup to your existing network and the second card goes to a hub and or switch. Then you can add crunchers to the hub or switch as fast as you can build them. I might be mistaken on this TC would have to clarify it but I thiink this would be the best way to go. This would also minimze headaches when adding or removing crunchers.

Speed you are correct about the PSU I just read that a few days ago. I will also try to find the link.
 
In the server one nic is set to use dhcp to get an IP - so if you have a linksys router and cable or dsl you would connect that nic to your present setup. The other nic has a static IP, and it also has a dhcp server running. This is the nic that connects the nodes. In my case I'm on cable and I use a router with dhcp. I connected the server to that and it acts like any other computer on my lan. The nodes in the terminal setup are connected to a hub that is hooked up to the other card in the server. They are in one sense isolated from the rest of my lan, but they have access to everything else through the other nic that is connected to my cable router. I am finding out that a good network connected between the server and the nodes is essential. At first I thought the seti client would reside entirely in memory on the nodes, but in reality they use disk space on the server to store the client's files. Consequently they are accessing the work unit and other result files over the lan, so a 100Mb connection and a switch are not absolutely necessary, but a good idea.
 
I see this is really taking off. Another point i thought would be worth mention. I understand that running seti on a full blown win or linux box is the same. But here were running seti on a "bare" linux install. No overhead to take cpu or mem resources.


Does that make sense or should i just lay the wacky stuff down and get back to work?
 
LuKE said:
I see this is really taking off. Another point i thought would be worth mention. I understand that running seti on a full blown win or linux box is the same. But here were running seti on a "bare" linux install. No overhead to take cpu or mem resources.


Does that make sense or should i just lay the wacky stuff down and get back to work?
Yes, but without a good network connection it really slows things down. Since the seti client has to access its files on the server's hard drive it's important to have a fast connection. One of my nodes is a P4 1.6A that used to average 3 hours per unit. Now it's veraging 4:10 - so the network has added an hour to its average.
 
hallen said:
TC- What about a boot ROM like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2037494886

It worked great with Netware. Would it work with your cluster?

Harvey
That card has a rom for windows. You need one to boot a linux kernel. These people have them for quite a few cards, but they're pricey. By the time you get a nic and one of these boot roms you've spent more than a floppy drive costs.

http://www.disklessworkstations.com/cgi-bin/cat/scan/di=category/df=yes/dl=ProgrammedChips?dRptjJx7;;14
 
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