Help in setting up a cluster

Hello,

This is my first time posting here, I think I am in the right place, if not
I am sorry.

um, Here is my situation.
I am in middle of my final year project (Undergrad), anyway my project is
on Linux Clustering and I am asked to demonstrate the effectiveness of a
cluster practically, I have done my thesis but I am stuck on the practical
side.
what I want and looking for is:

1- I want to test the cluster by running a software that can take advantage
of other machines resources and converting songs from one extension to
another in a short time, and then I will compare that to if the conversion
process was run on one machine.

2- I want to run a web
server<http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/247113-39-built-cluster-test#>
on
the cluster, so if one machine fails, the website will still be there. (for
fault tolerance demonstration)

Note: I do *NOT* anyone to do it for me, I want to do it myself. All I want
is guidelines and perhaps some best practices.
thanks guys.

Yazeed.