How to Build a Beowulf: A Guide to the Implementation and Application of PC Clusters

by Thomas Lawrence (EDT)/ Salmon Daniel F. Sterling

Supercomputing research--the goal of which is to make computers that areever faster and more powerful--has been at the cutting edge of computer technologysince the early 1960s. Until recently, research cost in the millions of dollars, andmany of the companies that originally made supercomputers are now out ofbusiness.The early supercomputers used distributed computing and parallel processingto link processors together in a single machine, often called a mainframe.Exploiting the same technology, researchers are now using off-the-shelf PCs toproduce computers with supercomputer performance. It is now possible to make asupercomputer for less than $40,000. Given this new affordability, a number ofuniversities and research laboratories are experimenting with installing suchBeowulf-type systems in their facilities.This how-to guide provides step-by-stepinstructions for building a Beowulf-type computer, including the physical elementsthat make up a clustered PC computing system, the software required (most of whichis freely available), and insights on how to organize the code to exploitparallelism. The book also includes a list of potential pitfalls.

238 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 1999