[Bioclusters] small simple test lab recommendations

[Bernard Li]

Hi Paul: 

> If you want to build your own cluster on top of a Linux OS then I'd 
> recommend the following software:
> 
>   o Any Linux distro you prefer; Suse 9.1 if you want a suggestion
>   o Grid Engine 6 for job scheduling
>   o SystemImager for OS barebones OS installs & incremental updates
>   o BigBrother and Ganglia for cluster monitoring

I'd like to make a quick plug for OSCAR.

If you have a Linux distro in mind that you would like to use and want a
toolkit to simplify the deployment and administration of a cluster, then
OSCAR is a good fit.  Currently it supports Red Hat 9, Fedora Core 2,
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and more distro support are on the way.  It
includes Torque as the default scheduler but you can install whatever
you want - I use SGE on my OSCAR cluster.  System Installation Suite
(SIS), which SystemImager is a part of is a core component and Ganglia
is also installed by default out of the box.

Another idea to get a clustering environment if you do not have the
necessary hardware is to make use of Solaris Containers.  You can set up
many containers in a standalone computer and each container becomes a
'node'.  Just grab a copy of the latest Solaris Express and you can set
up your own 'virtual' cluster in no time!

Cheers,

Bernard