What is openMosixLOAF?
openMosixLOAF is a single floppy openMosix Linux mini-distro designed for diskless
systems or HPC clusters where only CPU and memory is needed. It
has drivers for all PCI Ethernet NICs that the Linux kernel has
support for (10/100/1000). It is used to create openMosix nodes
cheaply and/or on-the-fly.
Once you have installed a dedicated PC with Linux and openMosix,
boot all your nodes with an openMosixLOAF floppy. Simply create
a static map and watch processes originating from your dedicated
node (often referred to as "homenode" or "masternode")
migrate to your other nodes. openMosix will continuously attempt
to optimize the resource allocation. The next release will aim to
include the openMosix’ Auto Discovery tool. With the openMosix’
Auto Discovery, a new node can be added while the cluster is running
and the cluster will automatically begin to use the new resources.
Briefly on openMosix
openMosix is a Linux kernel extension for single-system image clustering.
This kernel extension turns a network of ordinary IA-32 computers
into a supercomputer for Linux applications. There is no need to
program applications specifically for openMosix. Since all openMosix
extensions are inside the kernel, every Linux application automatically
and transparently benefits from the distributed computing concept
of openMosix. The cluster behaves much as does a Symmetric Multi-Processor,
but this solution scales to well over a thousand nodes which can
themselves be SMPs.
openMosix and "the open-source world progresses with giant
steps. It is a world where the sun never sets and where national
borders, race and religion have no meaning. What counts is the code.
And that comes abundantly, and in high quality." Moshe Bar
*For the latest on the openMosix Project, head
on over to their site at http://openmosix.sf.net.
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