cluster project

[Jared Smith]

Basically, you stick a hundred boxes in a room, network them all together,
set up a single monitor/keyboard/mouse to interact with that collective power,
and you have a cluster. Linux does this very well. It is a cheap way to build
a supercomputer.

"The most simple and general configuration of a HPC cluster consists of two or more PC boxes, in 
this case running Linux, connected through a high speed LAN, for example though a Fast Ethernet 
switch (see Figure below). One special node is distinguished, called frontend, that has two network 
interface cards, one of them connected to a local LAN, and the other connected to a private network 
for the cluster. The frontend has a keyboard, a monitor and a mouse, and it is used as a gateway to 
the world, as login node for the users, and as fileserver. The rest of the boxes, called computing 
nodes or nodes, are usually headless, that is, the have no keyboard, no mouse, or monitor, and they 
are used for running applications."

Got it from this website:

http://heppc11.ft.uam.es/Clusters/Doc?General_Arquitecture_Of_A_Cluster

-Jared

><NEWBIE>
>Am I the only LugNut who doesn't really know what a "cluster" is?
>
>Could someone enlighten me, please?
></NEWBIE>