Thread: [SSI-users] building cluster
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From: Richard C. <sp...@ga...> - 2008-08-15 14:50:11
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Hi there, > I read a lot of information about OpenSSI and I must say that I really > like this project. > I have an idea how to transform our existing infrastructure to the > cluster but I have some questions. > We have few servers (7) which are used for several applications (web > server, DNS, mail server, many game servers) and all together forms > the gaming portal. Each server has its own public IP and each server > has its own hard drive with Debian OS and installed services which it > runs. > I am not sure if I understood the right functions of OpenSSI but my > idea is this. > > I want to create one cluster from these servers. I would have one > master server running OpenSSI and other servers would be cluster > nodes. I would like to have all data on the master server and I want > the cluster to act as one computer with one IP address running all > server software. This should do some process based load-balancing > between nodes. > After reading some documentation I believe there is a chance that this > will work. > > BUT ... > > Our machines are delivered from different sources (mostly as a sponsor > gift) and they have different motherboards, CPUs, network cards (some > are onboard some are PCI) etc. and some of them has multicore CPUs. > > So one problem is that some network cards probably :-) doesnt support > the PXE protocol, but we will probably buy new gigabit cards and > gigabit switch for cluster`s internal network. Can we use Etherboot > with standard network card , for example can we boot Etherboot from > flashcard ? > > But I think bigger problem is ... if we use multicore CPU machine as a > cluster node .. the machine will boot from network image which is > (according to the documentation) Syslinux image ... I dont know then > ... will it use both CPUs (cores) for the cluster ?? will it work at > all ?? > > thanks for answer > |
From: John H. <john@Calva.COM> - 2008-08-15 16:23:36
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Richard Cesar wrote: > Hi there, > >> I read a lot of information about OpenSSI and I must say that I really >> like this project. >> I have an idea how to transform our existing infrastructure to the >> cluster but I have some questions. >> We have few servers (7) which are used for several applications (web >> server, DNS, mail server, many game servers) and all together forms >> the gaming portal. Each server has its own public IP and each server >> has its own hard drive with Debian OS and installed services which it >> runs. >> I am not sure if I understood the right functions of OpenSSI but my >> idea is this. >> >> I want to create one cluster from these servers. I would have one >> master server running OpenSSI and other servers would be cluster >> nodes. I would like to have all data on the master server and I want >> the cluster to act as one computer with one IP address running all >> server software. This should do some process based load-balancing >> between nodes. >> After reading some documentation I believe there is a chance that this >> will work. >> OpenSSI can give you exactly that. You don't need one "master node", just one or more nodes that have access to the root filesystem and can run init. If you have more than one OpenSSI gives you high availability - if the init node goes down init and the root filesystem will fail over to one of the other init nodes. To make the root filesystem accessible from multiple nodes either use dual ported disks - SCSI, SAS, FC - or DRBD (cross-network mirroring in effect). >> BUT ... >> >> Our machines are delivered from different sources (mostly as a sponsor >> gift) and they have different motherboards, CPUs, network cards (some >> are onboard some are PCI) etc. and some of them has multicore CPUs. >> Not a problem, as long as the machines all have a common instruction set (i.e. you can't mix and match Itaniums and Alphas!). >> So one problem is that some network cards probably :-) doesnt support >> the PXE protocol, but we will probably buy new gigabit cards and >> gigabit switch for cluster`s internal network. Can we use Etherboot >> with standard network card , for example can we boot Etherboot from >> flashcard ? >> You only need network booting for the initial installation of a node. After the node has been configured into the cluster it can boot off it's local disk. I've used etherboot off floppies in the past. I'd certainly recommend gigabit ethernet for the cluster interconnect - 100mbit is a bit too slow. >> But I think bigger problem is ... if we use multicore CPU machine as a >> cluster node .. the machine will boot from network image which is >> (according to the documentation) Syslinux image ... I dont know then >> ... will it use both CPUs (cores) for the cluster ?? will it work at >> all ?? >> >> The OpenSSI kernel is an SMP kernel. It can run on as many cores as you want. OpenSSI doesn't care if different nodes have different numbers of cores. |