When people think of supercomputers, they usually visualize
a big iron Cray or perhaps a CM5--fans of "Jurassic Park"
might recall the big black computer with all the red
lights--something that takes up 2000 square feet and needs
2000 more for cooling, with a price tag in the millions. But
the big thing in supercomputing today might occupy a server
rack and cost a few thousand dollars. I'm talking about
Beowulf clusters of PCs running on Linux. For a fistful of
Franklins, you can set up a supercomputer that could shoot
down those big old iron jobs.
But Beowulf is not just for hobbyists. According to
Top500.org--the organization that ranks supercomputers by
speed--several of the top 500 supercomputers in the world
are clusters of off-the-shelf PCs running Linux and tied
together with Beowulf. The University of Kentucky, for
example, has a cluster of AMD Athlon-based machines that
ranks among the top 200 supercomputers in the world and
costs only $650 per gigaflop.
Granted, this topic is by no means new. The first Beowulf
cluster was developed in 1994. We covered it in our pages
in June. But it's relevant now because of our culture's
growing understanding of the complexity of things. For
example, we realize that weather is based on several complex
interrelationships and, as meteorologists bring better
supercomputing tools to bear on nature's complexities, most
of us have noticed improved forecasting as a result.
Other applications of Beowulf include so-called genetic
programming, which sends streams of algorithms through a
simulated natural selection process to determine the most
efficient program. Even small businesses can get into the
act here. With an eight-node cluster, a company can test
variations of server-side scripts to find the one that will
most enhance performance in the real world. Given the bang
for the buck and the variety of applications of Beowulf
clusters, Linux types would do well to learn this
technology. It could be a great feather in their caps.
Editorial Links:
All about Beowulf clusters
The University of Kentucky's KLAT2 supercomputer
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