The Linux Clusters

Affiliation

Course

Date

Introduction

An operating system (OS) is computer software that is used to manage the computer software and hardware components (Vallath, 2006). An operating system offers service to installed computer programs. For programs to run, it is essential for the computer to have an installed OS. Operating systems coordinate and schedule tasks which the system is to carry out. The OS acts as a link between the computer hardware and the programs. Operating systems are found in devices ranging from cell phones, web servers, video games as well as super computers. The most common operating system is Microsoft Windows, android, iOS, Linux, QNX and OS X among others (Finn & Lownds, 2013).

A computer cluster is composed of loosely or tightly connected computers that coordinate in the manner in which they work together to give an output of a single system. Components of a cluster are interlinked via the LAN network. Linux is a product of the GNU Project that resembles UNIX in many ways but it is has its own unique manner it was coded. An estimated 1.9% of computer users worldwide use the Linux platform (Finn & Lownds, 2013).

Linux clusters are used to enhance computer performance, saving cost and increasing system’s comparative speed. The clusters can serve several purposes for companies such as carrying out computerized calculations utilizing the different nodes that are used to enhance performance. The Linux clusters have the ability to create a platform that is utilized in designing leverage for high performance computing (Vallath, 2006).

The Linux cluster provides a base for the running of MPICH, Linux virtual server and distcc. Although Linux works best for high performance machines, not all Linux software work on the cluster platform. It therefore requires plenty of time to retool an application so that it can run on the Linux platform.

The Thunder cluster was released in 2003 and had 1024 node system which was made up of $ CPU Itanium2 Madison tiger4 nodes (Vallath, 2006). The model was ranked second on the 2004 supercomputers list (Chevance, 2005).

Fig 1. An illustation of the Linux cluster and its nodes

After the Thunder, Peloton was released by Linux and was made up of 144 nodes with the clusters having been built in a 5.5 T flop scalable units (Chevance, 2005). The model had a 4 core Opteron deerhound and an 8 CPUs node. The system also had a 2.4 GHz clock and it could accommodate SCF, OCF, ASC and M&IC as well as a capacity of Rhea, Hopi Yana, Zeus and atlas (Finn & Lownds, 2013).

Conclusion

As the years pass, the advancement of computer network and clusters also is enhanced. Technological experts from several operating systems are in a constant battle trying to design products that work efficiently and are also user friendly.

References

Chevance, R. J. (2005). Server architectures multiprocessors, clusters, parallel systems, Web servers, and storage solutions. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Digital Press.

Finn, A., & Lownds, P. (2013). Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation and Configuration Guide. New York: Wiley.

Vallath, M. (2006). Oracle 10g RAC grid, services & clustering. Amsterdam: Elsevier Digital Press.