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Follow UsThe May 2003 issue of PCQuest carried an article on a load-balancing cluster solution called openMosix. The best features of openMosix that we discussed then were its easy to use nature and user transparent node management. Since then, a lot of new things have been added in openMosix, one of which is that now it automatically shifts to omdiscd if it doesn’t find the openmosix.map file at the time of service startup. This makes it very easy to collect new nodes in a dynamic IP environment without any user action.
PCQLinux 2004 has the client software for openMosix, Kernel patch and tools. openMosix does not have the concept of a ‘server’ as Oscar has. It is a peer group of machines, each with the client software installed. You can also graphically manage your openMosix nodes using the openmosixview program. You can download this from www.openmosixview.org or wait for our next month’s CD
| openMosix and Firewall |
| If you have enabled firewall at the time of installation of PCQLinux 2004 and denied all the services then most probably your openMosix will not be able to find other nodes in the network. So, if your openMosix cluster is unable to find the nodes then try it by disabling the firewall. To do so, run the command ‘redhat-config-securitylevel’ and select the ‘Disable firewall’ option. That should do the trick. |
Install openMosix from Anaconda
You have a choice of two install options for openMosix. One is at the time of installation itself, and the other once the installation is complete. First, let us see how you can install openMosix at the time of PCQLinux 2004 installation.
Step 1: Start the installation process of PCQLinux 2004 and continue to the ‘Installation Type’ screen. Here, select the last option called ‘Experimental’ and proceed. This will add openMosix in your installation wish list and continuing with it will install openMosix packages. You can also install openMosix if you select ‘Personal Desktop’ or any other installation type. Simply select the installation type you want and proceed to the ‘Package Selection’ screen, where you choose
openMosix.
Step 2: Go to the ‘PCQLinux Special’ and select the ‘Exclusive’ checkbox. Now, click on the ‘detail’ link. A new window will open. From here, check if ‘openmosix-pcqlinux’ package is selected or not. If not, then select it and continue.
Step 3: When the installation is over you will be presented with a screen that says your installation Step 1 is complete and you will find a ‘Reboot’ button at the bottom of the screen. Hit the button. When the PC reboots, it will automatically resume the installation Step 2 and perform the installation of openMosix at this time. After the installation of openMosix packages are over, the PC will undergo another reboot automatically. When the PC reboots and comes to the Grub screen, you will find a new kernel entry for openMosix. Just boot with this kernel and your openMosix will get stated automatically.
Install openMosix after PCQLinux 2004 installation
To do so, just insert the PCQLinux 2004 CD 1 in your CD drive. It will be mounted automatically. Now proceed with the wizard and when it asks you to select which package you want to install, go to the PCQLinux Special>Exclusive and select the openmosix-pcqlinux package, proceed with the wizard and it will dump the packages in your PC. When the installation is over, reboot your system. It will automatically resume the Installation Step 2 and will install the kernel-patch and the tools by itself. After Step 2 is over, it will automatically reboot the machine and your openMosix kernel will be available at the Grub screen when the machine boots. For more information on openMosix, read the May 2003 issue of PCQuest or visit the link
www.pcquest.com/content/search/showarticle.asp?arid=45409&way=search.
Anindya Roy