Web review: LinuxHPTC is a mini-cluster of clustering news and info

– by Tina Gasperson –
Clustering is getting more popular as virtual machines are enabling regular
people like you and me to run clusters on the desktop (see Grant Gross’ story
about User-mode Linux.) Here’s a site that caters to parallel computing freaks
and other ultra-high-tech dudes. If you’re into Fortran, there’s somethere here
for you.

LinuxHPTC.com is new, with the first headlines appearing in December 2001. It
specializes in high performance technical computing (hence the HPTC), with an
emphasis on beowulf clustering. The site posts links to items like “Build a
large, cheap Linux file-server” and news about a LinuxWorld session about
“clusters in the enterprise.”

HPTC has sections for community, training
(though that page wasn’t working when I visited), and a really spiffy page full
of docs and faqs — like the “Cluster Quick Start,” and the “Beowulf
Installation and Administration How-To.” The Cluster Quick Start was written in
1999, and assumes a Red Hat 5.1 or 5.2 installation. But it can be useful for
newer setups, and there’s some great background on what a cluster really is, and
what the difference is between a cluster and a network of workstations. By
following other links, you’ll find out about COCOA (Cost Effective Computing
Array), Flat Neighborhood Networks, and
YABIH (Yet Another Beowulf Installation How-to).

There are also handy pages of links to appropriate hardware and companies that
sell it, software companies who do clusters (like Turbolinux, TeraPort, Myricom,
and Linux NetworX), and a small page of projects. The events page, sadly, was
also broken when I was there.

LinuxHPTC.com is incomplete, but appears
to be frequently updated, and the information it does carry is informative if
you want to learn more about clusters.