[Beowulf] 2 starting questions on how I should proceed for a correct first micro-cluster (2-nodes) building

[Renfro, Michael]

Heterogeneous is possible, but the slower system will be a bottleneck if you have calculations that require both systems to work in parallel and synchronize with each other periodically. You might also find bottlenecks with your network interconnect, even on homogeneous systems.

I’ve never used ROCKS, and OSCAR doesn’t look to have been updated in a few years (maybe it doesn’t need to be). OpenHPC is a similar product, more recently updated. But except for the cluster I manage now, I always just just went with a base operating system for the nodes and added HPC libraries and services as required.

> On Mar 2, 2019, at 7:34 AM, Marco Ippolito <ippolito.marco at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm developing an application which need to use tools and other applications that excel in a distributed environment: 
> - HPX ( https://github.com/STEllAR-GROUP/hpx ) , 
> - Kafka ( http://kafka.apache.org/ )
> - a blockchain tool.
> This is why I'm eager to learn how to deploy a beowulf cluster.
> 
> I've read some info here:
> - https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Building_a_Beowulf_Cluster
> - https://www.linux.com/blog/building-beowulf-cluster-just-13-steps
> - https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~mjf/pi_cluster/src/Building_a_simple_Beowulf_cluster.html
> 
> And I have 2 starting questions in order to clarify how I should proceed for a correct cluster building:
> 
> 1) My starting point is a PC, I'm working with at the moment, with this features:
>   - Corsair Simm Memoria RAM, DDR3, PC1600, 32GB, CL10 Ven k	
>   - Intel Ci7 Box Processore CPU 1150 i7-4790K, 4.00 GHz	
>   - Samsung MZ-76E500B Unità SSD Interna 860 EVO, 500 GB, 2.5" SATA III, Nero/Grigio	
>   - MB ASUS H97-PLUS	
>    - lettore DVD-RW
> 
>   I'm using as OS Ubuntu 18.04.01 Server Edition.
> 
> On one side I read that it should be better to put in the same cluster the same type of HW : PCs of the same type, 
> but on the other side also hetherogeneous HW (server or PCs) can also be deployed.
> So....which HW should I take in consideration for the second node, if the features of the very first "node" are the ones above?
> 
> 2) I read that some software (Rocks, OSCAR) would make the cluster configuration easier and smoother. But I also read that 
>  using the same OS,
> with the right same version, for all nodes, in my case Ubuntu 18.04.01 Server Edition, could be a safe starter.
> So... is it strictly necessary to use Rocks or OSCAR to correctly configure the nodes network?
> 
> Looking forward to your kind hints and suggestions.
> Marco
> 
> 
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