On 7/20/07, Kelly <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> We are just about to purchase a small cluster for our processing needs
> running FSL.
> What would you recommend for an operating system on a cluster mainly
> utilizing FSL tools?
Hi Kelly,
I have set up a few such clusters for FSL and MINC processing. My
basic recipe consists of Debian/Ubuntu + cfengine (for management) +
sungridengine.
If you have little experience with clusters, I would suggest that you
keep it simple to start with and instead shell out a few extra $$ for
a "fat node". By fat node I mean a single machine with a bunch of
cores as opposed to a bunch of machines with a few cores each. You
can get a Quad Core Intel (Q6600 or AMD) machine under the $800 (US)
without even breaking a sweat these days.
If you think that you only need 8 cores or so, I would recommend just
getting a single (more expensive) Dual quad core Xenon (5345's or so)
on something like a supermicro X7DBE motherboard. At least by using
fat nodes you can reduce your admin (of the machines) overhead
significantly with very little extra cost.
--
Andrew Janke ([log in to unmask] || http://a.janke.googlepages.com/)
Canberra->Australia +61 (402) 700 883
|