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cluster computing questions

 
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is there a forum somewhere wholly dedicated to cluster computing? detailing how to build one?

Clusters run programs that give the image of a single system with massive resources such as Clusterit and others. does this mean that if i take a normal java program i wrote for a typical single XP machine, will it execute using all the resources of the Cluster?


Ali
 
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Most cluster software has to be aware of the cluster. It can't take advantage of the cluster transparently.

Are you trying to learn for learning's sake or trying to solve a specific problem? You might want to check out http://www.globus.org/ Globus is a grid, not a cluster, but perhaps it will help get you rolling.

A few years ago we needed a grid a startup and we ended up rolling our own. All of the commercial/free toolkits had way too much security overhead for our needs.
 
Ali Gilani
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so how do you make a java program aware of the cluster?

and what difference is there between a Grid and a Cluster


Ali
 
Jared Richardson
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Originally posted by Ali Gilani:
so how do you make a java program aware of the cluster?

and what difference is there between a Grid and a Cluster


Ali



It means you put enough logic in your program to know how to dispatch a job to the grid. Most of the grid toolkits handle that logic for you (like the Globus link). Making your Java programs grid (or cluster) aware means picking a grid (or cluster) toolkit and using it in your software.

I've always thought of a grid as a group of machines, each one running as a independant node in the grid, requiring a controller (or master node) to dispatch jobs and a cluster being more transparent, similar to your original question. I've never done much with clusters though so I may be completely wrong.
 
Jared Richardson
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How about this:

Wikipedia on Grid Computer

Wikipedia on Clusters
 
Consider Paul's rocket mass heater.
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