Download Building and Improving a Linux Cluster

ABSTRACT
Building and Improving a Linux Cluster
Matthew Brownell
Department of Physics
Bachelor of Science
When creating, compiling and modeling physical situations and phenomena, the time needed
to run a program increases dramatically as the problem grows more realistic and includes
more variables. The computational time needed to run realistic problems or generate detailed graphics can easily reach over 1,000 hours of machine time. Linking multiple computers through a Network File System (NFS) and installing Message-Passing Interface (MPI)
software allows the computers to run code in parallel processes on each machine quicker
and more efficiently. The BYU-Idaho Linux Cluster was created and completed in August
of 2014 using Dynamic IP Addresses assigned from BYU-Idaho Internet Service Provider
(ISP). To create a faster cluster the network configuration was changed to a Local Area
Network and Static IP Addresses were assigned. Now that benchmarking and testing has
been completed, results show an increase in power and speed for the new 2015 BYU-Idaho
Linux Cluster.