[Beowulf] Re: Beowulf Digest, Vol 42, Issue 39

[Jeff Johnson]

beowulf-request at beowulf.org wrote:
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:07:22 -0700
> From: Jim Lux <James.P.Lux at jpl.nasa.gov>
> Subject: [Beowulf] small file systems
> To: beowulf at beowulf.org
> Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20070827150401.034576d0 at mail.jpl.nasa.gov>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> And here's a challenge at the other end of the spectrum.
>
> What's the lowest cost, simplest, closest to off the shelf way to 
> build a small network file server that can do DHCP/PXE booting, etc. 
> for a compact low power cluster.  Something like a LinkSys NSLU-2 
> (<$100 but you need to add a USB disk, and load a new version of the 
> OS that has dhcpd and tftpd) could probably do it, but it would be 
> nice to have an integrated solution.
>
>
>
> James Lux, P.E.
> Spacecraft Radio Frequency Subsystems Group
> Flight Communications Systems Section
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 161-213
> 4800 Oak Grove Drive
> Pasadena CA 91109
> tel: (818)354-2075
> fax: (818)393-6875 
>
>   
Jim,

    Take look at DD-WRT (http://www.dd-wrt.com). It is a mini-distro 
designed to replace the firmware on many models of Linksys, Buffalo and 
Netgear SOHO router/gateway products. They also have ported to a few 
board level single-board computers that are a bit more robust. Most are 
based on the Broadcom embedded processors. It has many features 
including samba and nfs, dhcp, tftp, ftp, iptables, ssh, etc. By 
underclocking the processor you can get it down to very low power usage. 
With a router board that has a compact flash port (CF disk) you could 
get 8GB of fast local storage, equal to a lower end laptop drive.

Here is a link to a board level product that works well with dd-wrt and 
has a CF slot. http://www.routerboard.com/rb500.html

--Jeff

-- 
Best Regards,

Jeff Johnson
Vice President
Engineering/Technology
Western Scientific, Inc
jeff.johnson at wsm.com
http://www.wsm.com

5444 Napa Street - San Diego, CA 92110
Tel 800.443.6699  +001.619.220.6580
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