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How Well Does Windows Cluster?

Posted by Cliff on from the please...no-more-beowulf-jokes dept.

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?

6 of 590 comments (clear)

  1. how well does it cluster? by gray+code · · Score: 0, Troll

    well, it cluster fucks pretty well...

    har har

  2. BSOD by Ogrez · · Score: 0, Troll

    a blue screen domino effect... starts with one, and next thing you know, its a sea of blue screens. The problem with MS clusters is that stability really becomes a question... a crash spreads like an infection...

    --


    Fire in the hands of the village idiot is no tool, but a weapon of mass destruction
  3. "What would it take... by prisonercx · · Score: 0, Troll

    to get them to switch to a Microsoft cluster?" How about not shafting everybody who's ever used your OS? ;)

  4. Can you imagine a beowolf cluster of these? by IDontLikeYou · · Score: 0, Troll

    Can you imagine a beowolf cluster of these?
    Can you imagine a beowolf cluster of these?
    Will can you?






    Can you imagine a beowolf cluster of these?

  5. Can you imagine a beowulf cluster of these? by IDontLikeYou · · Score: 0, Troll

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HA
    Can you imagina a beowuld cluster of these? I know i can or cant!
    boom.
    where are my glasses?
    Can you imagin a a beowuld cluster of these?
    Oh there they are. up your ass. i wonder what they are doing there.
    Can you imagina a beowuld cluster of these?

  6. even easie: by hawk · · Score: 3, Troll
    They asked a direct question, give them a direct answer: the source code . . .


    :)


    hawk