Blü server cluster
No so long ago, we received a couple of computers from the SCM.IT team (thanks to Prof. Liu, Antony and Simon), 20 computers (with their keyboard/mouse/LCD friends) to be precise. While 3 of them have dead power supplies, the other ones are happy and running along.
This post will outline some of the things I have done so far.
- Setting up the computers
Since the computers will all be connected together in a cluster, I needed to setup the computers and connect them together. This was definitvely not an easy task but, with a little time, i got them all up together. Physically at least.
[insert photo of cluster]
The process each computer underwent was the following (several computers were done in parallel):
- Check power supply
- Modify BIOS settings:
- Allow PXE
- Allow Wake on Lan
- Restart on power loss
- Wake up at 6.00 am
- boot from USB, then SATA
- Num. Lock
- Enable Hyperthreading
- Partition HDD and install Ubuntu Linux 9.04
I considered originally installing Linux using PXE but then thought it would be faster just to boot all the computers with Ubuntu Jaunty on my USB key. (it was faster) - Install openssh-server on all the computers
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install openssh-server && sudo reboot
- Connect to the blü network
- Setting up the network
Since we need to keep the costs down (the computers were lended to us for free), we also went the cheap route for the network. If we keep the “google” approach to the cluster, we should stick to cheap components that can easily be replaced in case of failure. Thus, the following networking tools were purchased:
- D-Link DIR-300 router (on which i installed DD-WRT) @ $HK199
- D-Link 16port 10/100 switch @ $HK230
- 300m of CAT5 cable
- 50 RJ45 plugs
- crimping tool
The longest part of this process was, of course, making the cables.
- Remote access
I had a look at which solution would be the best in order to control all the computers graphically without having to buy expensive KVM switches. My final decision went for running Xsessions over ssh. This would ensure minimal modifications to the system and security.
Other choices were X forwarding and VNC. I did not go for VNC because of security reasons and also because i had touble forcing it to launch before the gdm prompt. Similarly I did not go for X forarding because I had concerns about security.
To run Xsessions under windows one needs to install Xming and Xming-fonts. Then create a xml file with the following extension: .xlaunch and content:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <XLaunch xmlns="http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes XLaunch.xsd" WindowMode="Windowed" ClientMode="StartProgram" Program="gnome-session" ClientStart="PuTTY" Compress="true" RemoteHost="192.168.0.1" RemoteUser="blu" Display="15" Clipboard="false"/>
replacing of course 192.168.0.1 by the client IP and gnome-session by the program you would like to launch
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