Narges Habibi’s Blog

In Computer Cluster post, I introduced computer clusters generally. OpenMosix is a Linux kernel extension for creating Linux-based high-performance clusters.

openMosix is a kernel extension for single-system image clustering. openMosix is a tool for a Unix-like kernel, such as Linux, consisting of adaptive resource sharing algorithms. It allows multiple uniprocessors (UP) and symmetric multiprocessors (SMP nodes) running the same kernel to work in close cooperation. The openMosix resource sharing algorithms are designed to respond on-line to variations in the resource usage among the nodes. This is achieved by migrating processes from one node to another, preemptively and transparently, for load-balancing and to prevent thrashing due to memory swapping. The goal is to improve the cluster-wide performance and to create a convenient multiuser, time-sharing environment for the execution of both sequential and parallel applications. The standard runtime environment of openMosix is a computing cluster, in which the cluster-wide resources are available to each node.

For installing OpenMosix, you need to download the OpenMosix patch and apply it to Linux kernel and compile the kernel again. In addition, OpenMosix userland tools should be installed after that.

openMosixView is a graphical user interface to manage OpenMosix clusters easily. It has several features for monitoring and managing processes and clusters.

You can test your cluster by OpenMosix Stress-Test.

ClusterKnoppix is a compiled Linux kernel with openMosixView installed. just download and install it, and then you will get your cluster ready! It’s very easy to use.

More information:
* OpenMosix Home
* openMosixView Home
* A good article about introducing, compiling and internals of OpenMosix
* An article from the OpenMosix developers
* Our report in Persain

PS: A special Thanks to friend, who introduced OpenMosix to me.