| | | | | | Beowulf is a network of nodes, with each node a low-cost personal computer. Its power and simplicity is derived from exploiting the capabilities of the mass-market systems that provide both the processing and the communication. This chapter explores all of the hardware elements related to computation and storage. Communication hardware options will be considered in detail in Chapter 5. | | | | | | | | | Few technologies in human civilization have experienced such a rate of growth as that of the digital computer and its culmination in the PC. Its low-cost, ubiquity, and sometimes trivial application often obscure its complexity and precision as one of the most sophisticated products derived from science and engineering. In a single human lifetime over the fifty year history of computer development, performance and memory capacity have grown by a factor of almost a million. Where once computers were reserved for the special environments of carefully structured machine rooms, now they are found in almost every office and home. A personal computer today outperforms the world's greatest supercomputers of two decades ago at less than one ten-thousandth the cost. It is the product of this extraordinary legacy that Beowulf harnesses to open new vistas in computation. | | | | | | | | | Hardware technology changes almost unbelievably rapidly. The specific processors, chip sets, and three-letter acronyms (TLAs) we define today will be obsolete in a very few years. The prices quoted will be out-of-date before this book reaches your bookstore's shelves. On the other hand, the organizational design of a PC and the functions of its primary components will last a good deal longer. The relative strengths and weaknesses of components (e.g., disk storage is slower, larger, cheaper and more persistent than main memory) should remain valid for nearly as long. | | | | | | | | | This chapter concentrates on the practical issues related to the selection and assembly of the components of a Beowulf node. You can assemble the nodes of the Beowulf yourself, or you can let someone else (a system integrator) do it. In either case, you'll have to make some decisions about the components. Many system integrators cater to a know-nothing market, offering a few basic types of systems, e.g., ''Office" and "Home" models with a slightly different mix of hardware and software components. These machines would work in a Beowulf, but with only a little additional research, one can purchase far more appropriate systems for less money. Beowulf systems (at least those we know of) have little need for audio systems, speakers, joysticks, printers, frame grabbers, etc., many of which are included in the standard "Home" or "Office" models. High performance video is unnecessary except for specialized applications where video output is the primary function of the system. Purchasing just the components you need, in the quantity you need can be a tremendous advantage. Fortunately, customizing your system this way does | | | | |
