ClusterMonkey: A Web-Based Tool for Optimized Cluster Design

[ Thanks to Douglas Eadline for this link. ]

"Whenever someone asks what hardware to buy for their new cluster, the answer is always, 'It depends.' It depends on what application the cluster will be used for, it depends on how much space, power, and cooling are available, it depends on the costs of operating the cluster, and it depends on how much the parts that might be used cost. The standard process is to analyze the application and use rules of thumb and experience to guess what hardware will work best. The sophistication of the analysis depends on how much money is involved and how much computer engineering expertise the designer has.

"Large clusters, with price tags in the millions of dollars, justify spending a lot of effort to characterize the applications that will run on them and to design the best system for those applications..."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• developerWorks: Installing a Large Linux Cluster: Part 1: Introduction and Hardware Configuration(Dec 12, 2006)
• Linux.com: Getting Started with ParallelKnoppix, A Live CD for Clusters(Nov 17, 2006)
• ClusterMonkey: Building a Virtual Cluster with Xen (Part Two)(Oct 11, 2006)