What makes a cluster a Beowulf? Cluster is a widely-used term meaning independent computers combined into a unified system through software and networking. At the most fundamental level, when two or more computers are used together to solve a problem, it is considered a cluster. Clusters are typically used for High Availability (HA) for greater reliability or High Performance Computing (HPC) to provide greater computational power than a single computer can provide.

In the history of supercomputing, there always has been the notion that super speed requires exotic technologies and monumental cost. Our newest supercomputer proves that if you use the right exotic technologies, you don't need much money -- not even as much as a "normal" Beowulf would cost.

Beowulf (computing) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This project aims to build a 192 processor Beowulf cluster running the Linux Open Source Software (OSS) operating system. The name of the resulting machine is bunyip. The project is sponsored by: a Major Equipment grant from the Australian National University (ANU), the Computer Sciences Laboratory (CSL) in the Research School of Information Systems and Engineering (RSISE), the Department of Computer Science (DCS) in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT), Bunyip is based on commodity dual-CPU Intel-based PCs, multiple 100Mbps Ethernet links and a novel arrangement of Ethernet switches

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