clusterKnoppix, A Clustering Success

It has been a while since I have posted, because we have been working on our final project, making a cluster out of few computers. As I said before, we were having difficulties getting OSCAR set up. At one point it seemed to have imaged the nodes correctly, however upon testing the cluster using OSCAR’s feature to do so, we found we had several errors. We were unable to fix them, and so we decided to move on for now and try different tools. From here we tried using Rocks Cluster Distribution. You can either download the DVD with the Operating System and all the packages, CDs, or pick and choose what software you wanted and burn them to individual CDs. We originally went with the DVD choice, however, during installation, it asked the source from which it would get the packages, and it wouldn’t recognize our DVD as a choice. We tried CDs, but it would keep restarting in the middle without doing anything. Both Rocks and OSCAR had extensive documentation which I appreciated, however, since we could not get them working, we looked for another solution. During my research, clusterKnoppix always showed up, however, since it was more of a LiveCD based solution, I kept it on hold. Although from what I read, it should be easy to get one going by using LiveCDs. So we burned two and popped them into two computers, and followed these instructions. However, we would keep getting errors setting it up. I went back and did some more research, and found these instructions, which were to just boot from the CDs and they would see each other as long as they were assigned ip addresses. I immediately tried again, and they worked without any problems. I tried out the simple load balancing script that was in the first set of instructions, and it all seemed to work. The next step was to make it a permanent solution by installing it to the hard drive. We followed these instructions (the 7th post, a long set of instructions). Instead of using QTparted to partition our hard drive, we used GPart from the Ubuntu LiveCd because QTparted would not see our hard drive. We did not implement a separate partition for the cd image and we did not copy the clusterKnoppix CD contents to the hard drive the way that was suggested. Once the hard drive install was complete, we followed the instructions up to where it said “3. new: create directory for export: OK” which we selected, and we left the CD in the drive, from which it copied files. However, it created a folder called “diskless” in the root folder. After we found our cluster didn’t work, we deleted the folder and made a new “diskless” in the same location, but we copied the files from the CD to this location. In addition, for the “Client Hardware” section of the how-to, we just left the defaults, and eventually at the end everything works. We skipped some instructions, and went to where it said “Your terminal will complain about /mfs not being set-up correctly when…” and followed these steps. In addition, we also edited a script from these instructions (4th post) which we chose to implement before completing the cluster set-up. Eventually, we restarted terminalopenmosixserver (you may have to select stop, and then start) and did a openmosix restart. We booted up the nodes and watched from openmosixview as they began to appear. Our cluster was a success! During the terminalopenmosixserver and openmosix restarts, and also when booting up the nodes, there may have been small errors or warnings, but we let them be unless our cluster did not work. clusterKnoppix is a great and easy way to cluster; you can have a temporary cluster just to see it work by using the LiveCDs, or have a more permanent hard drive install.

OSCAR…not working quite yet

Yesterday, I used the start_over script in OSCAR to…start over. I did the log out and back in it said, and I proceeded to reinstall and reconfigure OSCAR. This time, though, I opted to use a mirror for the rpms it needed, and I then proceeded to build the client image. After a very long time, an error was reported, it told me to check a log file which is really a script. Meanwhile, the client computers don’t even boot past the bios with the hard drives in. Today, we will have to somehow format the hard drives and start over with OSCAR.

Managed Switches

We decided today after testing the mini cds and the applications to figure out the managed switches. Mr. Birchall had given us an SMC EZ1024DT–an “EZ” unmanaged switch, an SMC Tigerswitch which was managed and we had an HP ProCurve 224M. For the Edubuntu server project, we decided to use the EZ switch and experiment with the managed switches a bit later. Today, we started with the HP switch since we could actually find documentation on HP’s site. We connected it directly to the server through a serial port, and fixed the ip address and the gateway, so we could also use the web interface–previously this was not working. Once we tested to see if everything was working, we configured the SMC Tigerswitch the same way by connecting it via serial. We are able to use all our switches now, and hopefully we may be able to play around with a more advanced switch later.

Applications to Send Home on Mini-CDs

Mr. Birchall wanted us to test some applications to send home, mainly the FirstClass client software so students can access school email. We would place these applications on a mini cd-r. Therefore, we also had to test the integrity of the mini cd-rs. For applications, we decided on adding Firefox and also Pidgin for Windows, and just Firefox for Macs. We like Firefox as an internet browser and we added Pidgin because it is an open source alternative to AOL Instant Messenger. We burned many mini cd-rs with the software and tried them in our different cd readers. We did some more testing by scratching them and exposing them to everyday wear and tear. We concluded the integrity of the discs were fine; we had no problem burning and reading the discs, and the mini cds couldn’t take any less abuse than regular cds.

Imation Pivot Flash Drive

Mr. Birchall came in yesterday and handed us a 1GB Imation Pivot flash drive to test. I liked the outside of the flash drive because the USB portion folds into the flash drive, and it has a nice rubber and texture feel. I also happen to have a Lexar Lightning which is a very shiny piece of metal, and I prefer using a flash drive like this one. It has the standard light telling you data is being written, and also a write protection switch. The switch is very small and somewhat more difficult to reach, making it harder to accidentally set it off. However, the greatest feature is the built-in 256 bit protection. It is very easy to set up, and fairly easy to use. It uses hidden wrapper files to encrypt and hide your data. Therefore, even if you just delete the application, the files would still be there (you would need to format to get rid of everything). In addition, if you delete an encrypted file, you have to tell the program to also reclaim the space that was used for the wrapper. Which leads in to its versatility; unlike the old Kingston DataTraveler Elite we have been using, you do not have to set up a dedicated partition. You use just much as you need. In addition, it is faster to access than the Kingston, where the logon and logout could take a while. The flash drive is dependable, the outside is durable and I tested the integrity by unsafely removing it, even while it was writing files, many times. Windows Vista recognizes that it was unsafely removed after I reinsert the drive, however, it finds no errors. One thing that the Kingston has on the Imation is speed, as published below using SiSoft Sandra XI. However, transferring Word documents is instantaneous in both, and large music files that are 30MB doesn’t take that much longer with the Imation. You may notice an increase when transferring a 900MB file, but a student would not really need to do that often, and even so, it will take a while with both drives. One other IT issue, using non-admin with the Kingston, is not present with the Imation. I like the Imation Pivot, even more than the Kingston, and can highly recommend this flash drive. Go to the jump for benchmarks and screenshots with explanations.

Printing Issues

Since laptops are not connected to the domain, printing wirelessly can be an issue. Both Brian and I are able to print using a method that could be considered complicated by some end users. Therefore, we have been researching some solutions. We tried software resolutions first. However, we cannot have a new server dedicated for printers and other solutions would lead back to doing what we do. Therefore, we have decided to find hardware solutions, namely a print server, maybe a wireless one. We are still researching, so I will write some more later.

Dell Poweredge 500sc

Mr. Birchall came in yesterday with a Dell Poweredge 500sc server with a faulty motherboard. It was our job to see if a third party motherboard such as an Asus would work.  We took apart the computer and found it was a socket 370 mobo, an older standard. However, we also discovered that Dell uses a proprietary ribbon front panel connector, however, we were in luck. I found a chart of the pins here. Once we found that it was possible, we searched for 370 motherboards on Newegg first, and we came up with these  DFI ones. We also found an abit one on a site called Global computer, here. In addition, I found what seemed like the actual motherboard here, although the price is a bit steep at $595. So, we found it was possible to do a mobo transplant, but only a few socket 370 motherboards are still for sale, and the front panel pins would require some modifications.

Possible Ubuntu Server Specifications

Brian and I have been researching possible Ubuntu server specifications. We found a few interesting links, http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/linux_terminal_server?page=0%2C0, http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/ServerSizing. Using these links we determine for 10 clients we would need at least a 1GHz processor. One modern processor (like a Pentium 4) would work fine, or perhaps two Pentium 3s to compensate for their lower bus speed. 1GB of RAM would be sufficent, but slightly more would be safer. For hard drive space, we allocate 20GB which will be more than enough for the operating system and packages, 5GB as swap, and if we would give 500 users 50MB, that would be another 25GB. Therefore, 50GB should be enough. We could be on the safe side and also implement a RAID array.