Deploying Linux on IBM eServer pSeries Clusters

Chapter 7. High Performance Computing case studies

With the rapid advances in semiconductor technology, most computing tasks that used to require supercomputers can now be performed on desktop workstations. However, there are always areas and applications that challenge and push the limit of computing power. Such applications include the “grand challenge problems” of weather forecasting, nuclear testing, drug designing, automobile designing, and so on. For these challenges, High Performance Computing (HPC) clustering is often the best solution.

An HPC cluster often consists of the following components:

• A large number of powerful computing nodes

• A high speed network that interconnects the computing nodes

• A high performance global file system that ...