Cluster setup

cavemanoc · 13 May 2009 at 21:20

I have 4 old computers (Pentium 4) kicking around (plus a few bits that might make a couple more.) Rather than stripping and Fleabaying the lot I thought it might be fun to set up a cluster to mess around with.

So... this is the bit where I tell you that I know absolutely nothing about servers/clusters.

OS: What OS should I be looking at? Being that the closes thing I've seen to this is WHS

What should I be looking at. I thought maybe a Trial version of Server 2003, or maybe a Linux Distro if you can recommend a simple one.

Hardware: What will I need network wise to link them all together?

Software: Once it's all up and running - what on earth should I do with it. I could obviously go for FoH or SETI, but was hoping to do something a little different - any ideas welcome!

I'd love to do something like the Render Farm in the pictures below - but the build log will probably be much delayed

cavemanoc · 13 May 2009 at 22:41

That's part of the problem - I've got no idea what I want to do with them - hence open to suggestions

cavemanoc · 15 May 2009 at 11:04

Maybe a slightly different tack - does anyone have a cluster at home - and if so, what do they use it for?

cavemanoc · 15 May 2009 at 21:25

Thanks for that - just the input I was after. The guys at work have been pushing to set up a small SQL server and it looked like I was going to get Joed to set it up - having a bit of practice in a safe environment would be hugely helpful. I may well go that route with a couple of trial copies of 2003 just to play/get my hand in.

I did think about using them as a Folding/Seti type rig, but as you pointed out (especially with the advent of CUDA) I could achieve far more with a single low end modern machine than my little cluster could ever hope to do

Hence the trawl for ideas really - there must be something fun/different/interesting I can do with them - rather than strip and 'bay the lot. Someone must have a good quality whacky idea? I mean... they put men on the moon with considerably less power than I have to play with - surely I can find something fun to do...