Customer Reviews

How to Build a Beowulf: A Guide to the Implementation and Application of PC Clusters

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

A "Beowulf" is the concept of using a network of low cost personal computers for distributed processing. The book doesn't specify a particular configuration. The author describes the three fundamental parts of a Beowulf system: node hardware, network hardware, and parallel software applications. Three chapters explain how to use the message passing interface (MPI) standard to distribute the work for a program executing on multiple nodes. An example MPI program for sorting is presented. The features of the Linux operating system are covered in Chapter 4 since Linux is a common choice for Beowulf clusters.

Before I purchased this book I was completely intimidated by the idea of building a Beowulf Cluster. I found this book to be a surprisingly thorough and accessible resource, allowing me to get a great understanding of what was needed. I've just placed my order for the equipment for my first cluster and can't wait to get it up and running!

I have had bad experiences with cluster books before, this one is no exception. There's no how to in here, just a bunch of lecture. For mega nerds only, average computer people need not apply.

The other reviewers are right, this is a genuinely pathetic book that you should not even consider buying.

This book might be worthwhile if you are starting more or less from scratch and know next to nothing about linux, computers, or networks, but if that's the case your first step should be to hire someone who knows, and they won't want this book. it pontificates in general terms about a number or obvious issues without explaining explicitly how to tackle any of the multitude of configuration issues that come up.

I was hoping for great things from this book, but as a lot of the other reviewers have said very disappointing. To much time was spent on linux, which if you are going to be building a beowulf you would know, and even if you didn't there is a endless supply of linux knowledge on the net which greatly exceeds what is in this book.

At the end of the day I DID build my own low-end beowulf, but sadly I can't say that any of the information that I needed was found in this book. It might have been there but the unorganized layout mad it impossible to find anything.

Fortunately for me, I checked this one out from the library. The book spends a huge amount of time and paper detailing the history of Linux and several other esoteric topics. Yet it fails to tackle the core issue, as defined in the title. I give the authors credit for their amazing work in parallel computing and Beowulf clusters, however, I hope their next edition actually discusses HOW to build a Beowulf.

It is a book about building Beowulf. But many chapters are spent on introducing linux and mpi. You can find more useful information from internet instead of this book.

I must take issue with some of the other reviewers of this text. I found this book to be a very good overview (and snapshot) of the current status of a rapidly evolving system architecture. It is written at a fairly high level (although it does dip periodically into details) - so the reader gets a good overview of what a Beowulf is, its' components, and many of the issues involved in designing and implementing one. In my view it balances detail and theory quite well.

IT IS NOT (nor do I believe it was intended as) a detailed roadmap of EXACTLY how to build one. The Beowulf architecture isn't so much a single type of implementation, but rather an approach to applying COTS technology to solving computational problems. The details of any single Beowulf implementation depend greatly on the specific computational problem being attacked. (Something that is pointed-out within the book.) The authors therefore took a different approach.

Some of the topics covered in the book WILL, eventually, be outdated: specifically, the section on the PCI bus, some of the material on network technology, and the section on available processors. As COTS technology advances, and as Beowulf architectures change to take advantage of those advances, some sections will become outdated. However, this is unavoidable for any text reviewing the current state-of-the-art. There is also a lot more here that is NOT likely to be outdated within the next several years..

There may also be sections in the text that the reader will already be familiar with, and can therefore skip. This is also inevitable considering the nature of the text and will obviously vary depending on the reader.

I can recomend this text highly as a starting point in learning what a Beowulf is, some of the ways they are put together, and for exploring many important design and implementation decisions. In my own case, it helped me resolve a number of design issues I was wrestling with about my own system. It does not, however, stand alone. After starting with this text, most readers will then certainly need to refer to online sources for further information.

Now when I pick up a Beowulf cluster computing book, do I really need introduction to Linux, and its applications? Do I really need an explanation of what scripting is, or basic administration ?

I am interested in the details of how and what Beowulf is, how it is done and preferably some code instead of the half page swiss-cheese like snippets with missing relevance.

With all respect to the authors this book is very disappointing overall. The Beowulf-HOWTO is much more useful.

Being one of the first books to deal with Beowulf systems, I was very eager to see what approach the authors would take in dealing with the subject. As they state in their introduction, a Beowulf system encompasses everything from the hardware that you use to the applications run on it, with many layers in between. They do a good job of outlining each of the different steps needed to get a Beowulf systems up and running, however, they don't do it in a consistent manner.

The book jumps from nitty details concerning voltages of power supplies to highly abstract concepts concerning overall system security architecture and parallel algorithm development. It also constantly switches focus from a handbook for someone who has never seen a computer, to addressing seasoned system administrators. The switching between these different styles made it very difficult to identify material applicable to ones experience level.

Overall, the book identifies some key issues and provides a rough framework for possible solutions. I personally would have liked to have seen more "from the field" information, as this is still a rapidly evolving system architecture, being able to understand the growing pains would be very useful. Lastly the book does provide adequate references to online sites with more in depth information on some of the topics they cover.