The Scyld Beowulf Cluster Operating System is a complete Linux distribution designed to operate and manage your entire beowulf cluster. It features a single-system-image (SSI) design that virtually eliminates the pains associated with software provisioning and version skews. The operating system needs only to be installed on the designated "master node." As each compute node is powered up on the private network, the master node automatically installs and configures the appropriate software on the compute node. All software installation and configuration is performed on the master node.

System administration on Scyld Beowulf is consistent with other standards-based Linux distributions. All configuration options are accessible through a command line interface (CLI) and most are accessible via a graphical user interface. Traditional Linux utilities such as "top" and "ps" behave the same but have been made cluster-aware. Scyld Beowulf has been engineered from the ground up to allow users and system administrators to make a smooth transition from a stand-alone computing environment to beowulf-class computing.

Key Features & Benefits

• Single-point cluster installation and configuration eliminates version skew, reduces operational cost and improves cluster utilization.
• Familiar operating environment reduces learning curve for users and system administrators.
• Seamless and dynamic cluster scalability allows the addition and removal of compute nodes without bringing down the cluster, which reduces cluster down-time.
• Unified system monitoring feature, beostat, provides real-time health and performance statistics.

To learn more about how the technology works, please read the white papers.