Pachyderm Software - clump/os - Linux/MOSIX mini-distribution

clump/os
A CD-based Linux/MOSIX mini-distribution
© copyright 2001-2002 Pachyderm Software

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What is it? | Requirements | Download | Problems? | Expert Mode

News

08.01.2002 Release 6.1 - Linux 2.4.18; MOSIX 1.7.0; small shutdown fix
07.18.2002 Release 6.0 - Linux 2.4.18; MOSIX 1.6.0
03.06.2002 Release 5.4 - remote VNC support, Safe mode
02.22.2002 Release 5.3 - improved network adapter detection
02.22.2002 Release 5.2 - minor ui update: corrected graph scaling
02.21.2002 Release 5.1 - minor update; R5.0 users can ignore
02.12.2002 Release 5.0 - Linux 2.4.17; MOSIX 1.5.7
02.06.2002 Release 4.4 - fixed init issue when MOSIX configuration is delayed
01.02.2002 Release 4.3 - kernel patched for SMP + UP P4 bug
11.16.2001 Release 4.2 - minor update; R4/4.1 users can ignore
11.15.2001 Release 4.1 - minor update; R4 users can ignore
11.14.2001 Release 4.0 - Linux 2.4.13; MOSIX 1.5.2
11.07.2001 Release 3.0 - Linux 2.4.12; MOSIX 1.5.0 (1st public release)

ClumpView: R5.4 [GGI/Xvnc]

What is it?

clump/os is a CD-based Linux /MOSIX mini-distribution designed to allow users to quickly, or temporarily, add nodes to a MOSIX cluster; the current version (release 6.x) is a 7.6M ISO download.

How does it work?

At boot-time, clump/os will autoprobe for network cards, and, if any are detected, try to configure them via DHCP. If successful, it will create a mosix.map file based on the assumption that all nodes are on local CLASS C networks, and configure MOSIX using this information. [1] clump/os will then display a simple SVGA monitor (clumpview) indicating whether the node is configured, and, if it is, showing the load on all active nodes on the network. When you've finished using this node, simply press [ESC] to exit the interface and shutdown.

Alternatively, or if autoconfiguration doesn't work for you, then you can use clump/os in Expert mode. [2]

It works for us, but may not work for you; if you experience difficulties, please email us with as much information about your system as possible -- after you have investigated the problem. (See Problems? and Expert mode. You might also consider subscribing to the clump/os mailing list.)

This is free software, offered to you without warranty; see the license for more information.

[1] See Requirements: clump/os Release 4 best supports machines with a single connected network adapter. The MOSIX map created in such cases will consist of a single entry for the CLASS-C network detected, with the node number assigned reflecting the IP address received from DHCP. (On the 192.168.1 network, node #1 will be 192.168.1.1, etc.) If you use multiple network adapters Expert mode is recommended as the assignment of node numbers is sensitive to the order in which network adapters are detected. (Future releases will support complex topologies and feature more intelligent MOSIX map creation.)

[2] Please note that clump/os is not a complete distribution or a rescue disk; the functionality present is the bare minimum required for a working MOSIX server node.

Requirements

As the purpose of clump/os is to add nodes to a cluster, it is assumed that you already have a running MOSIX cluster -- or perhaps only a single MOSIX node -- from which you will be initiating jobs. All machines in the cluster must conform to the following requirements:

clump/os Machine(s) 586+ CPU, bootable CDROM, NIC, 64M+ RAM [3]
Master Machine(s)   Linux 2.4.18, MOSIX 1.7.0 (manually configured)
Network Environment Running DHCP server [4] and network

The following network modules are present, although not all support autoprobing; if you don't see support for your card in this list, then clump/os will not work for you even in Expert Mode.

3c501.o 3c503.o 3c505.o 3c507.o 3c509.o 3c515.o 3c59x.o 8139cp.o 8139too.o 82596.o 8390.o ac3200.o acenic.o at1700.o cs89x0.o de4x5.o depca.o dgrs.o dl2k.o dmfe.o dummy.o e2100.o eepro.o eepro100.o eexpress.o epic100.o eth16i.o ewrk3.o fealnx.o hamachi.o hp-plus.o hp.o hp100.o lance.o lp486e.o natsemi.o ne.o ne2k-pci.o ni5010.o ni52.o ni65.o ns83820.o pcnet32.o sis900.o sk98lin.o smc-ultra.o smc9194.o starfire.o sundance.o sungem.o sunhme.o tlan.o tulip.o via-rhine.o wd.o winbond-840.o yellowfin.o

Please also note that clump/os may not work on a laptop, definately doesn't support PCMCIA cards, and will probably not configure MOSIX properly if your machine contains multiple connected ethernet adapters; see Note 1. This is a temporary limitation of the configuration scripts, and the Release 3/4 kernels which are compiled without CONFIG_MOSIX_TOPOLOGY

[3] The system is loaded entirely into a ramdisk; this means that you should have at least 64M of RAM (and likely more) to accomodate the approx. 16M ramdisk, space needed for Linux itself, and space for your work. This approach was chosen so that the same CDROM can be used to configure multiple systems.

[4] If you don't, or won't, run DHCP, you can still manually configure your system; see Problems? and Expert Mode. Using DHCP is highly recommended, however, and will greatly simplify your life in the long run.

Download (and Getting started)

You can download the latest clump/os ISO under the terms of the GPL and MOSIX SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (which covers the MOSIX user tools), without warranty of any kind, from here:

R6.1 (MOSIX 1.7.0) stable	ISO (8028160b)	ISO.gz (6837341b)	ISO MD5
R6.1 Changes: Updated for MOSIX 1.7.0; improved shutdown scripts. See also R6.0 notes. R6.0 Changes: Updated for Linux 2.4.18 and MOSIX 1.6.0. See also R5.4 notes below. R5.4 Changes: Added VNC support, removed framebuffer support, added NoVNC Mode, added Safe Mode (prevents network adapter autoprobing and mosix configuration), added ping, added xterm, added lwm. Release Notes: - ClumpOS Mode, the default, attempts autoconfiguration and runs VNC and clumpview. - NoVNC Mode is identical to ClumpOS mode, except that VNC server isn't started. - Expert Mode is identical to the above, except that clumpview isn't run; you are presented with a simple shell environment. - Safe Mode is identical to expert mode, but attempts no autoconfiguration. SECURITY: VNC is configured without a password; do not run in the VNC-capable mode (the default mode!) if your machine is not running on a secured network, or be sure to run `vncpasswd`. Please note that MOSIX (and therefore clump/os) should always run in a protected environment; see the MOSIX man page for more information.

Please read this page in its entirety, then burn the image to CDROM, insert the CD into your drive, and reboot. (More detailed instructions are in the works, but all the information you need is somewhere on this page -- please read the notes in the margin!)

Please do not mirror these files. [6]

[6] Please do not mirror or link directly to these archives. We'd prefer that you link to this page so that users have access to the latest version and documentation; we've also been asked by the MOSIX folks to do our best to prevent the distribution of older versions of MOSIX as they contain known bugs.

Problems? [7]

The CDROM doesn't boot

Check your BIOS settings to make sure that your machine is configured to boot from the CDROM drive; also make sure that the CDROM is the first boot device.

The SVGA interface doesn't work, or the display is incorrect

Boot into Expert mode, and send us mail describing your video hardware so that we can correct this in future versions. (You won't be able to use clumpview for now.) If at all possible, please send us a working libsvga configuration file for the machine in question.

The network adapter isn't detected/autoconfigured (or no DHCP)

If you see a message (in clumpview) stating that no ethernet devices were configured, or that this node isn't configured yet, then either your ethernet card was not detected or the system was not able to configure the card via DHCP.

If you don't have a DHCP server configured and running on your local network, clump/os will never autoconfigure; if you have multiple connected network adapters, then clump/os may not configure MOSIX properly. If autoprobing for your network adapter doesn't work, or if you aren't using DHCP, then you'll have to configure your card manually in Expert mode -- using insmod, ifconfig, and route -- and then configure MOSIX via setpe.

If you do need to manually configure your network adapter, please advise us. We'd like to solve this problem, if possible, or at least document which network cards autoprobe correctly.

Migrating processes generate errors ("Network Unreachable")

This rare problem can be caused by conflicts resulting from differently configured kernels -- even if you are using the correct MOSIX and Linux kernel versions. If clump/os correctly detects all your nodes, but migrating processes generate errors, then please compare your master node's kernel configuration file with the R6.x kernel .config.

Migrating processes generate errors ("Process migration failed: incompatible topology")

You are likely using master nodes with CONFIG_MOSIX_TOPOLOGY defined, which is not supported by clump/os at this time. See Requirements, and compare your kernel configuration as per the previous FAQ; you will need to recompile your master node kernel(s). [7] If you don't find your issue here, please consider posting to the clump/os mailing list. (Please note that only subscribers are permitted to post; click on the link for instructions.) You should also make certain that you are using the latest versions of MOSIX and clump/os, and that the versions -- clump/os R4.x and MOSIX 1.5.2 at the time of this writing -- are in sync.

Expert Mode [8]

R5.4 Update: If you experience problems in Expert Mode, you can boot into Safe Mode; in Safe Mode no attempt is made at autoconfiguration.

If you hold down shift during the boot process, you have the option of booting into Expert mode; this will cause clump/os to boot to a shell rather than to the graphical interface. [9] From this shell you can attempt to insert the appropriate module for your network adapter (if autoprobing failed), and/or configure your network and MOSIX manually. Type "halt" to shut down the system. (Note that since the system resides in RAM you can't hurt yourself too badly by rebooting the hard way if you have to -- unless you have manually mounted any partitions rw, that is, and we don't recommend doing so at this point.)

If you want to run clumpview, execute:

  open -s -w -- clumpview --drone --svgalib

This will force the node into 'drone' mode (local processes will not migrate), and will force clumpview to use SVGALIB; the open command will ensure that a separate vt is used.

[8] Please be advised that the environment provided is intentionally minimalistic; if you require additional files, or wish to copy files from the system to another machine, your only option is nc (netcat -- a great little utility, btw), or mfs if MOSIX is configured.

[9] Expert mode (and clump/os for that matter) is 'single-user'; this is one of the reasons that utilities such as ssh are not included. These and other similar decisions were made in order to keep clump/os relatively small, and do not affect cluster operation.

R5.4 Update: clump/os is in transition; size is no longer a primary consideration.

Mailing list

The clump/os mailing list is primarily intended for discusions related to the use and configuration of clump/os, although general clustering related discussions are acceptable as well.

To subscribe to the clump/os mailing list, send a message to clumpos-request@psoftware.org with the word subscribe in the body; please follow the instructions received in response exactly.

To unsubscribe, send a message to clumpos-request@psoftware.org with the word unsubscribe in the body.

To post to the list send messages to clumpos-list@psoftware.org. The list will only accept messages from subscribers.

There is no list archive at this time.

License

The init scripts, and any other original materials on this cdrom, are © copyright Pachyderm Software, and licensed under the GPL; much of the base initrd, and the CDROM detection code, are borrowed from Mindi (0.43), a GPL'd bootdisk creation tool; additional utilities are collected from an upgraded Debian 2.2r2 installation; Linux, of course, is GPL'd. MOSIX was offered under the GPL, but it's current licensing status is unclear; Amnon Barak, however, has confirmed that we may redistribute it.

R6.0 Update: MOSIX kernel modifications are distributed under the GPL, while MOSIX user tools are available under the MOSIX SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT. This file is also present in the root directory of the clump/os filesystem.

clumpview , the cluster monitor, is © copyright Pachyderm Software. It will be "Open Sourced" once the interface becomes more generally useful, but is freely redistributable as is and without warranty. It supports X11, SVGA, etc., via LibGGI.

The rest of the software on this disk is licensed under the [L]GPL, or otherwise free. You can mail us if you require source for any of the GPL'd packages, or, preferably, download the sources yourself from kernel.org , debian.org , mosix.org , and Mindi's site.

The Lucida font used by clumpview requires this notice:

Any use of this source code must include, in the user documentation and internal comments to the code, notices to the end user as follows:

(c) Copyright 1989 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun design patents pending in the U.S. and foreign countries. OPEN LOOK is a trademark of AT&T. Used by written permission of the owners.

(c) Copyright Bigelow & Holmes 1986, 1985. Lucida is a registered trademark of Bigelow & Holmes. Permission to use the Lucida trademark is hereby granted only in association with the images and fonts described in this file.

SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC., AT&T, AND BIGELOW & HOLMES MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THIS SOURCE CODE FOR ANY PURPOSE. IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC., AT&T AND BIGELOW & HOLMES, SEVERALLY AND INDIVIDUALLY, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOURCE CODE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC., AT&T OR BIGELOW & HOLMES BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOURCE CODE.

No warranty

From the GPL:

BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.