Scyld Beowulf

Since presenting a case study for a low cost cluster in the March column (available online at http://www.linux-mag.com/2005-03/extreme_01.html), the “Extreme Linux” column has been focusing on Linux- based cluster software distributions suitable for such a system. While the modest four-node cluster — which cost only about $1,600 to build — isn’t very powerful, it is well-suited to testing clustering technologies and for developing scalable parallel software applications or models. This month, let’s round out our discussion of cluster software with a look at Scyld Beowulf, a commercial Linux cluster distribution.

While a majority of enthusiasts and some researchers prefer completely free cluster software toolkits, businesses and many research labs may be better served by a commercially-developed, –tested, and –supported alternative. Having a vendor to call is important to organizations with limited in-house expertise, and turn-key cluster solutions can deliver the power of high-performance computing to those who might not otherwise be able to afford to deploy the technology.

While a variety of commercial cluster toolkits and distributions have popped up in recent years, the first notable and best-known commercial package is Scyld Beowulf by Scyld Software. Scyld Software (http://www.scyld.com/) was founded in 1998 by Donald Becker, a member of the team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center that created the first commodity-based, high-performance cluster computer for the original Beowulf project. Since its initial release, the Scyld Beowulf product has matured and the company has been acquired by Penguin Computing, Inc. As Founder and…

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1. Scheduling HPC In The Cloud
2. GP-GPUs: OpenCL Is Ready For The Heavy Lifting
3. HPC Madness: March Is More Cores Month
4. HPC Turn-Offs: Power Control
5. The Cost to Play: CUDA Programming