On a course on computer cluster configuration and administration

Abstract

[EN] Computer clusters are today a cost-effective way of providing either high-performance and/or high-availability. The flexibility of their configuration aims to fit the needs of multiple environments, from small servers to SME and large Internet servers. For these reasons, their usage has expanded not only in academia but also in many companies. However, each environment needs a different ¿cluster flavour¿. High-performance and high-throughput computing are required in universities and research centres while high-performance service and high-availability are usually reserved to use in companies. Despite this fact, most university cluster computing courses continue to cover only high-performance computing, usually ignoring other possibilities. In this paper, a master-level course which attempts to fill this gap is discussed.

It explores the different types of cluster computing as well as their functional basis, from a very practical point of view. As part of the teaching methodology, each student builds from scratch a computer cluster based on a virtualization tool. The entire process is designed to be scalable. The goal is to be able to apply it to an actual computer cluster with a larger number of nodes, such as those the students may subsequently encounter in their professional life.