openMosix was a free cluster management system that provided single-system image (SSI) capabilities, e.g. automatic work distribution among nodes. It allowed program processes (not threads) to migrate to machines in the node's

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

that would be able to run that process faster (

process migration In computing, process migration is a specialized form of process management whereby processes are moved from one computing environment to another. This originated in distributed computing, but is now used more widely. On multicore machines (multip ...

). It was particularly useful for running parallel applications having low to moderate

input/output In computing, input/output (I/O, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals ...

(I/O). It was released as a Linux kernel patch, but was also available on specialized

Live CD A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading f ...

s. openMosix development has been halted by its developers, but the LinuxPMI project is continuing development of the former openMosix code.

History

openMosix was originally

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...

ed from

MOSIX MOSIX is a proprietary distributed operating system. Although early versions were based on older UNIX systems, since 1999 it focuses on Linux clusters and grids. In a MOSIX cluster/grid there is no need to modify or to link applications with an ...

by Moshe Bar on February 10, 2002 when MOSIX became

proprietary software Proprietary software is software that is deemed within the free and open-source software to be non-free because its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner exercises a legal monopoly afforded by modern copyright and i ...

. openMosix was considered stable on Linux kernel 2.4.x for the

x86 architecture x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was int ...

, but porting to Linux 2.6 kernel remained in the alpha stage. Support for the 64-bit

AMD64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging m ...

architecture only started with the 2.6 version. On July 15, 2007, Bar announced that the openMOSIX project would reach its end of life on March 1, 2008, due to the decreasing need for single system image (SSI) clustering as low-cost

multi-core processor A multi-core processor is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit with two or more separate processing units, called cores, each of which reads and executes program instructions. The instructions are ordinary CPU instructions (such ...

s increase in availability. OpenMosix used to be distributed as a Gentoo Linux kernel choice, but it was removed from Gentoo Linux's ''Portage tree'' in February 2007. As of March 1, 2008, openMosix read-only source code is still hosted at SourceForge. The LinuxPMI project is continuing development of the former openMosix code.

ClusterKnoppix

''ClusterKnoppix'' is a specialized Linux distribution based on the Knoppix distribution, but which uses the openMosix kernel. Traditionally, clustered computing could only be achieved by setting up individual rsh keys, creating NFS shares, editing host files, setting static IPs, and applying

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learn ...

patch Patch or Patches may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'' * Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy * "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962 * "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...

es manually. ClusterKnoppix effectively renders most of this work unnecessary. The distribution contains an autoconfiguration system where new ClusterKnoppix-running computers attached to the network automatically join the cluster. ClusterKnoppix is a modified Knoppix distro using the OpenMosix kernel.

References

External links

*
openMosixWiki

Original page at wayback archive

ClusterKnoppix at sourceforge.net

Clusterknoppix at distrowatch

Load-Balancing cluster HowTo using ClusterKnoppix
* http://ftp.fi.muni.cz/pub/linux/clusterKnoppix/ * http://ftp.linux.cz/pub/linux/clusterKnoppix/

openMosix cluster sites

Cluster at National Taras Shevchenko University of KyivHydra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Openmosix Cluster computing Internet Protocol based network software Parallel computing

History

ClusterKnoppix

See also

Live CDs

References

External links

openMosix cluster sites