Building a Large Scalable Internet Superserver for Academic Services with Linux Cluster Technology

With the speed and bandwidth offered by the next generation Internet technology, there is a need for large and scalable Internet server that can provides an adequate computing power and storage for the new generation Internet applications. This requires a huge investment in a very large and expensive commercial server system. Recently, the emergence of Linux PC clustering or so-called Beowulf Cluster Computing technology has provided a very low cost, scalable, and high-performance alternative to using these commercial superserver system in many class of applications. This paper presents our experiences learned from the construction of a 72 nodes Beowulf Class Cluster called PIRUN (Pile of Inexpensive and Redundant Universal Nodes) Cluster at Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. The purpose of this project is to explore the use Linux PC clustering technology to build a central Internet superserver and supercomputing class system for academics support at the university level. In this paper, the planning of the system is presented along with the discussion about issues in both hardware and software. This system when fully exploited will cost the same as current same main server but offer about 30-40 times more computing power and storage. Moreover, PIRUN System will becomes the largest supercomputing system in Thailand and deliver about 3 times higher performance than the previous largest supercomputing system in Thailand. We strongly believe that this type of system and technology is very suitable for developing countries in Asia Pacific Region.