Connecting computers...?

[Zephik]

Is there a way to connect 2-3 computers and have them run as one?

-SF

[slytherock]

best you can do:
1- is use KVM switch to go from one to the other
2- Build a small network to share your drives

That's the newarest I could go, but it work well.

BTW I use Firewire for internal network, and it's really fast

[OvRiDe]

Sort of ... That would be called a Cluster. I'm not sure what type of application you have in mind for it, but its not the type of thing that would let you get more out of a game or something like that. If you would like more information about it you should check out THIS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_cluster).

[slytherock]

interesting reading, ty very much :)

[OvRiDe]

Your quite welcome! Thats what we are here for :)

A few interesting mods that I have seen around clustering:
Mashie's Tranquility (http://www.mashie.org/casemods/tranquillity1.html)
SlipperySkips Humidor Cluster (http://slipperyskip.com/page10.html)
and probably my favorite..
SlipperySkips picoCluster (http://slipperyskip.com/page18.html)

Hope you enjoy those as much as I have...

[slytherock]

I also like this one very much. What amazed me is the size of it: it's incredible

[Zephik]

lol well... I'm probably going to get yelled at for being dumb, but the main reason why I asked if you could was because I was hoping to make everything faster. Like have one CPU for gaming, another CPU for bleh and so on. P4 2.8's are really slow for me, so I was hoping to set each cpu to do something or combine them to make everything faster...

Okay, yell away! lol

-SF

[OvRiDe]

I agree, you might not be able to build a smoking LAN rig out of the NanoITX (http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.83/.f) boards, but they are still VERY impressive IMHO!

[Zephik]

What are clusters used for?

I found this definition... could I do this with my three computers??

A computer cluster is a group of loosely coupled computers that work together closely so that in many respects they can be viewed as though they are a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks. Clusters are usually deployed to improve speed and/or reliability over that provided by a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or reliability.

-SF

[Airbozo]

lol well... I'm probably going to get yelled at for being dumb, but the main reason why I asked if you could was because I was hoping to make everything faster. Like have one CPU for gaming, another CPU for bleh and so on. P4 2.8's are really slow for me, so I was hoping to set each cpu to do something or combine them to make everything faster...

Okay, yell away! lol

-SF

Hey no yelling. What you want to do has been around for decades. The main issue is getting the software to be multi- system aware. It is one thing to expect your software to be multi "cpu" aware, but an entire different universe to expect it to be multi- "system" aware. If you were running linux there are several apps which are cluster aware and will use the resources of your cluster to their maximum capacity. indeed appearing to the software to be one huge multicpu system instead of several systems using ethernet to communicate multiprocess information.

This is how my webserver at work is setup. There are physically 2 systems running apache, handling the load seperating processes and conmnections across the 2 systems. This is a software function and not a hardware function. If one of those systems experiences a major failure, the software installed on both systems, "sees" this failure and directs ALL traffic the the good host and sends an email to me concerning the failure.

This is also possible under windows, but you need windows server 2003 or similar for the clustering software. Don't expect to have your battlefield 2142 game to be cluster aware. This is moslty dedicated to software running in the server environment.

Here is a good link: http://www.rocksclusters.org/wordpress/

This will get you started with clusters and give you info on what is and what is NOT feasable. At siggraph a couple of years ago I did a demonstraton with rocks, where I was able to build a fully functional cluster with 4 nodes in just slightly more time than it took me to remove the hardware from the box. I was also able to do the same thing with RedHat in just slightly longer.

BTW: those p4's are supposed to be _really_ overclockable!

[Zephik]

BTW: those p4's are supposed to be _really_ overclockable!

Unless you have a Dell motherboard right? lol

...stupid dell...

Thanks for the info Airbozo! I was hoping that you would reply to this thread because you seem to know alot about... alot of things lol

I don't play video games that much to be honest, I just don't want my computer to freak out when I am opening Firefox or MSN messenger! ...well not "freak out", it's just not as fast as I want it to be.

-SF

[OvRiDe]

Took me a while to find it again.. but THIS (http://www.plastk.net/highres/24mon/) has to be the funnest cluster I have ever seen.. :)

HERE (http://www.plastk.net/highres/videos/) are some videos of it in action as well..

[nil8]

Airbozo said just about everything. The practical uses for clusters are for no downtime servers or research projects where 1 computer just won't cut it.

He's also very correct about the software and the work it does. If you want an older example, look up Beowulf linux clusters.

[Airbozo]

Thanks for the info Airbozo! I was hoping that you would reply to this thread because you seem to know alot about... alot of things lol


-SF

Thanks. Thats what happens when you spend only 3 years at any one job. I tend to get bored with most places after about 2 years and start looking for another gig. The longest place I worked continuously was a place called Mindsource Software. I was a System Administrator contractor for them for about 6 years. They sent me where ever they needed to put out fires, because they knew I worked fast, got along with people well (half the task of fixing problems is massaging someones ego), and when I left a job, things worked and they called the company back whenever they needed another fix. When I started at sgi as a contractor, I liked it so much I went full time there. I moved around enough so I didn't get bored.

[Tweezy]

what i would suggest is getting a dual processor server mobo, connect some hd's together with Raid, sli two graphics cards together etc... rather than multiple systems, cram alot of hard ware in there... do i make sense?