In a message dated 05/17/2002 02:23:00, jswitte_at_bloomington.in.us writes:
> I don't know what a TruCluster is, but I've read that MacOS X
>theoretically supports a type of clustering where all the machines will
>act as one really fast CPU (with some really bad latency issues I would
>presume). And I figure at some point Apple will figure out how to get
>their bus architecture fast enough to do more than 2-CPU computers (or
>move to a new architecture all together), so we might see quad- or
>octal- (octet?) CPU configs some day.
TruCluster is a term found in DEC (now Compaq/HP) Tru64 Unix running on
64-bit Alphaservers. An Alphaserver is a server-class machine with the
64-bit Alpha CPU, one of the fastest CPU's on the planet. A TruCluster can
either be used in highly parallel mode like MacOS X can for heavy duty number
crunching or it can be used in highly-available mode where if one box fails,
another box takes over automatically. Hard drives are normally shared amongst
the members of a cluster via special hardware. Alphaserver boxes are NOT
limited to one CPU per box. Some can go up to 32 CPUs per box (see
http://www.compaq.com/alphaserver/ for tech specs). As of TruCluster V1.5
(and I'm outdated here), up to 8 dissimilar model boxes could be linked
together in either highly-available or highly parallel modes. This is a very
oversimplified explanation. Look at
http://www.tru64unix.compaq.com/docs/pub_page/cluster_list.html if you really
want to roll up your sleeves and get your hands (eyeballs?) dirty.
Incidentally, Alphaserver-based renderfarms were used in the movies "Titanic"
and "Ice Age" (among others) to render the computer-generated imagery.
Alphaservers also help run Amazon.com, AOL and the AltaVista search engines
at the Altavista site. Hope this helps.
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