[Beowulf] SGI to offer Windows on clusters

[Joe Landman]

Jim Lux wrote:

>> My understanding of pricing (for the windows portion) is that it adds 
>> (as an OS) $500USD to each node.  So for a 32 node machine, this is an 
>> extra $16k USD "tax" added on.  Doesn't include the absolutely 
>> necessary antivirus, anti-spyware, ...
> 
> Probably wouldn't be that expensive, especially if you boot the same 

It is.  List is 479$US per compute node.

> image on all nodes of the cluster.  Update one, update all.

I agree.  If it were 479$ per cluster (of any size, sorta like you can 
do with Linux for $0 per cluster), this would be interesting.

> Site licenses for AV and AS software are heavily discounted from retail, 
> as well.

$125 per node is guess.  Even if it is $60, or $20.  Basic idea is the same.

Costs scale per node for this path.  It adds cost.  Whether or not the 
benefit one derives from these costs is worth it is important, as is 
whether or not the benefit one derives from the alternatives are higher 
or lower.

> Is this Windows clustering version, too?

Yes.



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Joseph Landman, Ph.D
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