clusterKnoppix -- How to?

**hemps** · 07-15-2004, 07:50 PM

Can anyone give some advice to a cluster nubie? i have looked for instructions on how to setup a simple cluster..... 2 pc's.

From CD not HD install.

1. I boot the first pc, run the Start KNOPPIX Openmosix Terminal Server.
2. Go through the setup, and start the server.
3. Boot the second pc via pxe, boots great, all works.
4. Open Openmosixview to only find one pc in the display window? It only shows the local machine not the other pc.
5. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.
Ryan

**A. Jorge Garcia** · 07-19-2004, 02:31 AM

The easiest way I found to do this is to burn several clusterKNOPPIX CDs and boot them on several PCs on a LAN. This creates several nodes that can interoperate and already see eachother. Just run openmosixviewer in a shell to see all your nodes (from any of the nodes). BTW, I can't run LTSP because of a Wimpdoze DHCP server on the same LAN....

To test the automagical load balancing of the openMOSIX kernel, run Kandel from one node and watch the processes auto-migrate to other nodes on the openmosixviewer. The first time I tried this with clusterKNOPPIX it actually did not work. I've been using Quantian that's based on clusterKNOPPIX lately and it works fine!

I've had up to 25 nodes each running a PIV 2.6 GHz with about 800MB RAM each. Thats like one PC running a 65GHz processor with 20GB RAM!

Good Luck,
AJG

**el_supremo** · 07-19-2004, 04:59 AM

I have two machines connected in a local LAN and the newer machine also has a ethernet card through a cable modem to the internet.
When I just booted them with the CD they didn't find each other.
Here's what I did - it might help you.
Boot both machines with the ClusterKnoppix CD.
On the new machine configure the local connection first (things go wrong if the cable modem is done first). I forget the precise IP number that is used by default but call it X.Y.Z.1
I accepted that default number and all the other defaults. Then I configured the cable modem connection (as DHCP).
Then as root execute:
omdiscd -i eth0
where eth0 (or eth1 etc.) is the name of the connection.

Now on the old machine I configured its ethernet card. The default IP number is again X.Y.Z.1 and I changed it to X.Y.Z.2, accepted all the other defaults and then executed:
omdiscd -i eth0

Now they could both see each other and processes would migrate and if you save the configuration on each machine and boot up with myconfig=scan they'll come up next time without needed to be configured.
It was really cool seeing the processes migrate. In 1982 I did my M.Sc thesis on process migration and it was nowhere as easy to do then.

Best Wishes
Pete

**A. Jorge Garcia** · 07-19-2004, 03:08 PM

Oh, really? That sounds familiar. In 1984 I completed my Masters of Engineering at Cornell University where my final project had to do with process migration too! What a small world. All I remember about it was massive amounts of code in C....

Regards,
AJG

**hemps** · 07-19-2004, 05:49 PM

Thanks everyone, got it working. Is there a way to centralize storage space?
Thanks
Ryan

**el_supremo** · 07-19-2004, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by A. Jorge Garcia

All I remember about it was massive amounts of code in C....

.... and a PDP-11/23 connected to a PDP-11/70 via a 9600 baud terminal line.
Those were the days

Originally Posted by Ryan

Is there a way to centralize storage space?

I haven't played with it very much but the filesystem on each machine is visible to the others through a directory called (I think) /mfs under which is the processor ID (the last digit (N) of the IP number x.y.z.N). It contains directories /mfs/0, /mfs/1 etc.
I presume you could make node zero the one with all the disk space and then code your programs to access databases or whatever in /mfs/0/. When/if they are migrated they will all still be referencing the central disk space. There are probably better ways though.

Best Wishes
Pete

**A. Jorge Garcia** · 07-20-2004, 06:23 AM

That would be PDP 11/780s....

Anyway, if you are using knoppix-installer to make a hdinstalled node to save your work, you need to set-up the mfs direectories by hand. See the clusterKNOPPIX site for more info as I forget the exact details. I have one such node based on QUANTIAN in my lab.

Enjoy,
AJG

**wangji** · 07-20-2004, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by el_supremo

.... and a PDP-11/23 connected to a PDP-11/70 via a 9600 baud terminal line.
Those were the days

Oh ! how can you revive "souvenirs" . I still have in my head the
image of daniel Taupin (the guy who wrote 'almost alone' at the beginning the "algol68 compiler" )modifying the 1m2 switching
board of the huge printer-peripheral of the ibm650 filled with double triodes to be changed almost every 1O hours ...
10mhz fast transistors were Ge 1N1143,2N511...(mobility coefficient of course)and 3cm X band with Varian,Thomson klystrons !!!!That was in the sixties !!PDP did not exist yet !