Re: [Openmosix-Devel] Recommendations

David Brodbeck <[email protected]> Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:12:21 -0700
Newsgroups gmane.linux.cluster.openmosix.general
Message-ID <[email protected]>
--===============1634385218==
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=Apple-Mail-1-313111400


--Apple-Mail-1-313111400
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset=US-ASCII;
	delsp=yes;
	format=flowed

(Large CC list trimmed down)

On Jul 18, 2007, at 7:24 AM, Wes Wagner wrote:

> What we are using openmosix for is genetic programming, which is  
> cpu intensive, not quite so memory intensive, and produces lots of  
> single threaded processes since genetic programing is inherently  
> tons more simple serialized rather than multi-threaded. It is  
> better to have one thread per organism and just increase your  
> population sizes to achieve the results you want.
>
> Now one could load all this into a queuing program - and run it via  
> remote shell, but the other problem is that your processes run for  
> a long time. This presents real problems if you want to take a node  
> offline near immediately, but you don't want to abort the run.

Have you looked at Condor?  It uses a batch-and-queue mechanism, but  
if you link your binaries with its libraries it allows checkpointing  
so processes can be gracefully moved to other nodes.  You don't have  
to rewrite your code, just recompile.  On the down side, it's free  
but not currently open source, if that matters to you.  Unlike  
OpenMosix, though, it's maintained and under active development.

We're currently planning a move from OpenMosix to Condor.  More and  
more of our software is written in Java these days, and running Java  
on OpenMosix presents insurmountable difficulties.  We've also been  
experiencing problems with Python processes segfaulting during  
migration.  As the list of languages I had to tell people to avoid  
grew, I got more and more pressure from users to find something else.


David Brodbeck
Information Technology Specialist 3
Computational Linguistics
University of Washington



--Apple-Mail-1-313111400
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset=ISO-8859-1

<HTML><BODY style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; =
-khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">(Large CC list trimmed =
down)<DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Jul 18, 2007, at 7:24 AM, Wes Wagner =
wrote:</DIV><BR class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE =
type=3D"cite">What we are using openmosix for is genetic programming, =
which is cpu intensive, not quite so memory intensive, and produces lots =
of single threaded processes since genetic programing is inherently tons =
more simple serialized rather than multi-threaded. It is better to have =
one thread per organism and just increase your population sizes to =
achieve the results you want. <BR><BR>Now one could load all this into a =
queuing program - and run it via remote shell, but the other problem is =
that your processes run for a long time. This presents real problems if =
you want to take a node offline near immediately, but you don't want to =
abort the run.<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Have you looked at Condor?=A0=
 It uses a batch-and-queue mechanism, but if you link your binaries with =
its libraries it allows checkpointing so processes can be gracefully =
moved to other nodes.=A0 You don't have to rewrite your code, just =
recompile.=A0 On the down side, it's free but not currently open source, =
if that matters to you.=A0 Unlike OpenMosix, though, it's maintained and =
under active development.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>We're currently planning a =
move from OpenMosix to Condor.=A0 More and more of our software is =
written in Java these days, and running Java on OpenMosix presents =
insurmountable difficulties.=A0 We've also been experiencing problems =
with Python processes segfaulting during migration.=A0 As the list of =
languages I had to tell people to avoid grew, I got more and more =
pressure from users to find something else.</DIV><DIV><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN =
class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; =
border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; =
font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: =
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; =
-khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; =
-apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; =
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN =
class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; =
border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; =
font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: =
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; =
-khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; =
-apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; =
white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>David =
Brodbeck</DIV><DIV>Information Technology Specialist =
3</DIV><DIV>Computational Linguistics</DIV><DIV>University of =
Washington</DIV><BR class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN> =
</DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>=

--Apple-Mail-1-313111400--


--===============1634385218==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express
Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take
control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now.
http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/
--===============1634385218==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

_______________________________________________
openMosix-general mailing list
openMosix-general-5NWGOfrQmneRv+LV9MX5uipxlwaOVQ5f@public.gmane.org
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openmosix-general

--===============1634385218==--