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Can I do this? I have 4 Dell 1U rackmount servers with 4GB RAM each and a 3.0Ghz processor each, over a gigabit network can I get them to act as one server in Ubuntu or something like openmosix. Second if I can do that how do I get OS virtualization such as Xen to work on the cluster so I can run 10 VPS's over on 4 servers? So I can keep adding more 1u servers adding to the total computing 'power'.

Edit: Thanks for your responses, I will probably use Xen on the more powerful server then i will use the others for clustering using openMOSIX or Ubunutu's clustering.

user9517
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  • Thanks for your responses, i will probably use Xen on the more powerful server then i will use the others for clustering using openMOSIX or Ubunutu's clustering. Thanks, Dave –  Nov 07 '10 at 11:49

4 Answers4

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You can configure each host to support virtual machines. However each individual VM cannot execute on more than one host simultaneously. Each VM is restricted to the resources available within its host server.

You can 'Live Migrate' a VM from one server to another without bringing the VM offline. However as above, at any one time you only have the resources of a single host available to the VM.

With the resources you have, you may be better served by taking the RAM and CPUs from two of the hosts and using them to stack the other hosts as fully as possible (2 x dual-processor, 8Gb hosts). Then set those more powerful hosts up to host VMs. This relies on there being enough RAM and CPU slots spare within the hosts to expand them.

Hope this explanation helps. If someone does figure out a way to aggregate multiple hosts into a unified VM-hosting platform, I'm pretty sure they'll clean up. It's pretty much a virtualization holy grail ;)

Chris Thorpe
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Technically yes, but you'll need an InfiniBand RDMA network and some expensive commercial software like ScaleMP. Expect to spend several tens of thousands of dollars on top of the server hardware you plan to aggregate.

Practically, no, clustering doesn't (usually) work like that and can't just aggregate CPU and memory resources into a single logical machine image.

jgoldschrafe
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  • You don't need any of that to make a cluster. To make a fast cluster, maybe, but you can run parallel jobs over any interconnect, using free software. – Bill Weiss Nov 07 '10 at 04:27
  • @Bill For a cluster that might approach the OP's request, you would. See '10 VPS across 4 servers' and 'OS virtualization' in the original question. – Chris Thorpe Nov 07 '10 at 06:33
  • Yeah. ScaleMP is pretty much the only game in town for that the poster asks for - and even then it is somehow a daring undertaking. Most likely the OP did not want the answer he asked for and in general does not really know waht he is asking for here. Makes NO sense to go this approach. Those servers are best sold cheaply on ebay. – TomTom Nov 07 '10 at 09:18
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You might want to look into UEC, the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. It might give you what you want.

You don't need RDMA and stuff to make a cluster work. If you're interested in the clustering stuff (instead of just wanting your VMs to work) you can use something like OpenMOSIX with what you've got and you'll be able to run parallel jobs. Will it compete in the Top500? No. Will it be a fun project? Maybe :)

Bill Weiss
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can i get them to act as one server in Ubuntu or something like openmosix.

From the second part, I think you might be over-specifying...

Second if i can do that how do i get os virtulisation such as Xen to work on the cluster so i can run 10 VPS's over on 4 servers? So i can keep adding more 1u servers adding to the total computing 'power'.

For this, you're going to want to google for "Xen" "migration". If you want to do it while the virtual machines are running, you're looking for "live" migration.

Slartibartfast
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