In case you haven’t noticed, the high-performance computing (HPC) market is now ruled by the Linux cluster. And while Linux clusters have made serious number crunching affordable, this disruptive change still has perils. Unlike more traditional HPC methods, a cluster presents a myriad of variables and trade-offs to the cluster designer and end-user. However, whenever there are choices that aren’t completely right or wrong, there is an opportunity for the artist and engineer to shine in all of us.
Building machines around problems requires both halves of your brain
In case you haven’t noticed, the high-performance computing (HPC) market is now ruled by the Linux cluster. And while Linux clusters have made serious number crunching affordable, this disruptive change still has perils. Unlike more traditional HPC methods, a cluster presents a myriad of variables and trade-offs to the cluster designer and end-user. However, whenever there are choices that aren’t completely right or wrong, there is an opportunity for the artist and engineer to shine in all of us.
Douglas Eadline
Linux high performance computing clusters have generated quite a bit of interest over the last decade. While the notion of tying many computers together to solve a single problem isn’t really all that new (as anyone who used a DEC VAX Cluster will quickly remind you), the last ten years have seen a remarkable evolution in clustering, as processor, networking, memory, and many other technologies advanced. Indeed, with each revision of the fabled “Top 500” list, the cluster paradigm was seemingly recreated anew.
What lies at the root of such upheaval and what can you expect in the future? Both questions and others are becoming more imporant, not only for the cluster craft’s high-end practitioners, but to the computer community as whole. A new engineering art is at hand, and the paints, brushes, and canvases are now commodity…
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