Introduction to Beowulf Cluster

Beowulf cluster is a group of computers that are identical and commodity-grade. These are arranged and networked in such a way that they depict a small local area network (LAN). These are programmed such that they share processes among themselves and form parallel processing units. So, Beowulf clusters are parallel computing clusters with high performance.

The name “Beowulf” comes from an old English poem having the same name. Beowulf is a multi-computer architecture that consists of multiple client nodes or workstations and a single server node connected through ethernet or another network. Beowulf clusters are formed with the hardware components like switches, Ethernet Adapters, PC cables Unix like operating systems, etc., The Beowulf clusters differ from other clusters of workstations in their behavior of working like a single machine rather that a group of multiple workstations.

Operating Systems

Beowulf clusters work on operating systems like:

• MOSIX
• Kerrighed
• DragonFly BSD
• PelicanHPC
• Rocks Cluster Distribution
• ClusterKnoppix

Beowulf Characteristics

Critical features of Beowulf include the following:

1. Dedicated Processors and Private network
2. Easy replication for multiple vendors
3. Scalable I/O and no custom components
4. A free and open source available software base with distributed computing tools with minimal changes

Most Beowulf implementations use a cluster of Linux workstations and PCs, but Beowulf clusters can be adaptable to other platforms also.

Generic Beowulf Configuration