Slashdot Mirror
How Well Does Windows Cluster?
cascadefx asks: "I work for a mid-sized mid-western university. One of our departments has started up a small Beowulf cluster research project that he hopes to grow over time. At the moment, the thing is incredibly weak... but it is running on old hardware and is basically used for dog and pony shows to get more funding and hopefully donations of higher-end systems. It runs Linux and works, it is just not anything to write home about. Here's the problem: my understanding is that an MS rep asked what it would take to get them to switch to a Microsoft cluster. Is this possible? Are there MS clusters that do what Beowulf clusters are capable of? I thought MS clusters were for load balancing, not computation... which is the hoped-for goal of this project. Can the Slashdot crowd offer some advice? If there are MS clusters, comparisons of the capabilities would be welcome." One has to only go as far as Microsoft's site to see its current attempt at clustering, but what is the real story. Have any of you had a chance to pit a Linux Beowulf cluster against one from Microsoft? How did they compare?
oh, but remember,
:-p
the TCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you know how expencive a CS student is!!!! oh my god, how can they afford the astronomical amount of having 5 or 6 of them on one project.
don't you know that if you move to windows for all your reaseach project clustering needs, you only need a chimp....and since educating a chimp is much cheaper than educating 6 bright young men, your university will save a considerable amount of money....especialy when you lay off all those expencive profs and hire an animal trainer.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
but based on personal experience, Windows ME is pretty much a cluster.
'Same speed C but faster'
that he says he "works for a mid-sized mid-western university" when his handle has a link to a Ball State University email address.
Just come out and say it.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
:)
hawk
This wouldn't have happened if they had thier servers clustered to handle the load-balancing issues.
my understanding is that an MS rep asked what it would take to get them to switch to a Microsoft cluster.
You've got a golden opportunity here! Microsoft does it your way or they don't get the sale.
Let them know the nature of a cluster in a research project. Nodes will be swapped in and out. New ones will be added. Different OSs will be used. So tell them you want a copy of Windows for each potential node, licensed to the University and not to any individual node. Tell them you need full rights to install, reinstall, and uninstall any particular copy on any particular node. Tell them you will not accept any terms restricting the cluster to Windows only.
If you really want to play hardball, tell them you don't even want licenses, but bonafide user-owned copies of Windows subject only to the provisions of copyright. In other words, you don't want to be subject to any EULA. Then you'll discover how much Microsoft wants your cluster to be a Windows cluster.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.