Re: [Openmosix-Devel] Recommendations

Hello all,

I have similar motivations to Hugo and Wes, and I'm happy that I can  =

use OM for our cluster.

I'm working in an astrophysics laboratory and we have 25 cores in a  =

total of 8 nodes. Many of our applications are data analysis  =

executables, and we want to run tens or hundrets of them in parallel,  =

all with their own memory. So here shared memory is not so much an  =

issue. Also, the fact that the cluster is easily expandable (we add  =

more computing power once we get more money) is quite important for  =

us, and as Hugo said, it's an easy to deploy-and-use number cruncher  =

at no extra cost ... and we do not have to modify code specifically  =

(which in some cases is even not possible).

So we certainly will continue using OM, and a stable port to the 2.6  =

kernel would be highly appreciated!

Best regards,
J=FCrgen

Le 18 juil. 07 =E0 16:31, Hugo Carrer a =E9crit :

> Hello all,
>
> I'm using OM on a small company, 30 nodes, the nodes are the employees
> workstations.
> Our reasons to use OM over anything else so far are in order of  =

> importance:
>
> Cost
> Cost
> Ease of use
> Ease of deployment
>
>
> Bassically we don't have money to buy a system JUST to run our
> simulations. But OM provides us with an easy to deploy-and-use number
> cruncher at no extra cost. Using OM we are not forced to code our
> programs in any special way (we are no expert coders).
>
> A typical usage scenario is to launch any needed number of instances
> of our program and let the OM do its thing, we don't have to worry
> about anything else.
>
> Given that OM has worked so well for us in the past (using it since
> 2004) I haven't looked at any alternatives. But my impression is that
> there are not many as mature and easy to deploy-use as OM.
>
> Just my comment
> Hugo
>
>
> On 7/18/07, Moshe Bar <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Paul, Wes, all
>>
>> I actually meant to write to the list before the week-end, but  =

>> this is
>> a good opportunity.
>>
>> It's great to see that a few people have jumped into action (incl.
>> Florian) to try to finish the port of oM to 2.6.
>>
>> As to the reasons for my decision:
>>
>> It is true that time and resource constraints have played a role, but
>> only a minor one. After all, I have been able to keep the project
>> going while I started no less than 5 companies and keep them all
>> running, am involved with several others, wrote two books, and did
>> several of the other items on my list "things to do before I die".
>>
>> The real reasons for my decisions are indeed tied more to the
>> long-term vision and feasibility of the project. openMosix is about
>> high performance computing, in other words let  CPU (and to some
>> extent) RAM intensive apps run as fast as possible without hindrance
>> from the limitation of resources on local computers. We have all seen
>> that there are severe limitations to the SSI model due to the extreme
>> high impact of network latency, and due to the infeasible cost of
>> fully virtualizing the memory model (ie DSM), and the OS control  =

>> block
>> across several nodes.
>>
>> It is tempting to think that with massive multi-cores, the advantage
>> of an SSI cluster stays because then you have "even more CPUs to play
>> with". That is not so. The migration from a  multi-core system where
>> multi-threaded applications (as all apps are currently being
>> re-written as) thrive and performe well to another such node, implies
>> a DSM model capable to relocate threads either in gangs or single
>> across nodes. In other words multi-cores are changing the application
>> landscape towards a massively threaded one, and these apps will not
>> perform well in a DSM cluster by definition due to very high true and
>> false sharing.
>>
>> Tests we performed at my company Qlusters with very low latency
>> inter-connects (< 1microsecond round-trip latency) with a very
>> efficient implementation of DSM have shown an regular performance
>> impacts of 100x to 1000x.
>>
>> Even the sgi Altix let's threads run in the same SMP quadrant.
>>
>>
>> The other big reason is that I have over the last two years
>> intensively looked for a successor and was not able to find somebody
>> with the willingness, stamina, maturity, leadership, and coding
>> expertise to take over.
>>
>> If this announcement brings forward somebody to deal with this latter
>> issue, that doesn't solve the prior issue of multi-core application
>> models.
>>
>> Finally, another reason is that user numbers have been going down  =

>> very
>> quickly and mostly these were users with, say,  4 or 5 nodes with a
>> total of 4 to 6 CPUs. Well, you can get all of that with much simpler
>> ease of use with a dual socket, quad core system today.
>>
>> Please hammer away with comments. :-)
>>
>> Moshe
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/18/07, Wes Wagner <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Paul,
>>>
>>> I am working with the author of omuscd on a 2.6 openmosix port to  =

>>> the 2.6.22
>>> Kernel... I need to talk with him some more, but you should  =

>>> expect that the
>>> openmosix cluster will be picked up by another team.
>>>
>>> I just need until this weekend to get things organized. I believe  =

>>> Moshe
>>> underestimates the need for using multicore systems in a massive  =

>>> set and
>>> forget mode so people can do without the overhead of being  =

>>> concerned with
>>> queue and batch management.
>>>
>>> We have such a need and are currently building a 40 core farm  =

>>> expected to
>>> grow to the thousands of cores. It is my personal opinion that this
>>> announcement came mostly due to time and resource constraints,  =

>>> not the lack
>>> of a need for SSI style clustering.
>>>
>>> Please watch this space in the coming weeks:
>>>
>>> https://sourceforge.net/projects/om-2-6
>>>
>>> Our intent was originally to provide a source tree where you  =

>>> could download
>>> an x386 x686 x64_86 source that included the omuscd management  =

>>> daemon and
>>> went clean onto a vanilla kernel. I expect that the project will  =

>>> expand.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Wes Wagner
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 7/18/07, Paul Bennett <[email protected] > wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi List,
>>>>
>>>> I just found out that openMosix was getting end-of-lifed.  Does  =

>>>> anyone
>>> have any recommendations for another clustering option?
>>>>
>>>> I would like to go with something based on the 2.6 kernel and  =

>>>> amd_64.
>>>>
>>>> http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=3D715406
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Paul
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Wes Wagner
>>>
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>>
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