An Experimental Approach to Constructing and Enhancing a PC Cluster System for Scalable Network Services

Abstract

Although clustering might not be a panacea for today’s ills, it might help the organization that is trying to maximize some of its existing resources. In this paper, we experimentally present a small-scale personal computer based cluster system for network servers as a low-cost alternative to traditional high-performance computing systems. The enhanced cluster system for scalable network services (CSSNS) consists of the parallel virtual file system (PVFS), the Linux Virtual Server (LVS), the Director, and several high-end Pentium PCs connected by high-speed switched Ethernet networks for I/O nodes and cluster nodes. The PC cluster system constructed for scalable network services is characterized by its high performance, high availability, high scalable file system, low cost, load balance on cluster servers, and convenient managing/set-up for a broad range of applications. The transmission performance experiments for the entire system further validates and confirms that CSSNS is truly a laboratory-made high-performance, high reliability and scalability personal computer based cluster system for scalable network servers.