RE: [Nolug] Beowulf Cluster and Thin Clients

I'm a big fan of WYSE. We're also a reseller, so I'm a bit biased. Good products, and they support everything from RDP to VNC. They make great thin clients.

From: owner-nolug@stoney.kellynet.org [mailto:owner-nolug@stoney.kellynet.org] On Behalf Of Clint Billedeaux
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 7:03 AM
To: nolug@nolug.org
Subject: Re: [Nolug] Beowulf Cluster and Thin Clients

Well,

I know absolutely NOTHING about both, but I've never considered ignorance a bar to learning from experimentation.

So:

Planned experiment one: Build a Beowulf Cluster.
Goal: Learn about Beowulf Clusters
Terms for success: develop an understanding of what EXACTLY a Cluster does.

Planned experiment two: Build a Thin Client/Server Network.
Goal: Run multiple clients from a single Linux Box. see www.ltsp.org<http://www.ltsp.org>
Terms for success: develop the skills and confidence to handle Thin Clients and Servers.


Premise of PE3: "One of the main differences between Beowulf and a Cluster of Workstations<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_of_Workstations> (COW) is that Beowulf behaves more like a single machine rather than many workstations." (from the original how-to which was published by Jacek Radajewski and Douglas Eadline under the Linux Documentation Project<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Documentation_Project> in 1998.)

I understand that behaving LIKE a single machine and BEING a single machine are two different animals, but I'm willing to experiment.


Planned experiment three: Build a Beowulf Cluster/ThinClient Server

Goal: To successfully utilize the processing power of multiple computers to support the functions of the Server Node on a Beowulf Cluster working also as the Server Node on a Thin Client Network.
Terms for success: Learn EITHER way whether or not such a merger of concepts is worth the effort.


Summary: Instead of having multiple machines crunching away on individual graphics applications, it would be interesting if merging 18 desktops into a processing engine to support the computing needs of our business while lowering the cost of expanding the number of terminals in the business as we add employees.



On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 12:22 AM, Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net<mailto:ron.l.johnson@cox.net>> wrote:
On 04/22/2011 12:06 AM, Clint Billedeaux wrote:
Does anyone on this list know enough about Clusters and Thin Clients to
really discuss it? Or am I just going to have to go experiment with it
blindly? That's a trick question. I'm going to experiment blindly
regardless of what I hear. It would just be nice if I could get some
encouragement from someone who has some experience with either or both.

Since clusters and TCs are solutions to sufficiently different problems that they don't overlap very much, please tell us your goals.

--
"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure
the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally
corrupt."
Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749
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Received on 04/25/11