Ho ho! As much as I like Becker and the boys at CESDIS (Beowulf), now Scyld, this is pretty interesting. I don't know if Linux *can* be as reliable as VMS (whole 'nother can of worms), but the scalability stuff sure is nifty. -- "To misattribute a quote is unforgivable." --Anonymous ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 01:46:36 GMT From: Scott Vieth <svieth at wi.rr.com> Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Subject: VMS-style clustering comes to Linux?!?! This little goodie showed-up in my inbox today: ====================================== In this issue: * VAX clustering makes a comeback * Links related to Linux * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ TECHNOLOGY & VENDOR NEWS ALERTS Sign-up to receive e-mail news alerts on LANs, Storage, Network/Systems Management, The Edge, Cisco and Microsoft. Keep abreast of the most significant developments of the week in these specific technologies and for these vendors! Subscribe today at http://nww1.com/go/ad082.html _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: A blast from the past By Phil Hochmuth Devotees of Digital Equipment were probably saddened when Compaq announced last week that it would phase out its 64-bit Alpha chip by 2004. So goes another old DEC technology into the history books. However, one group of programmers is bringing another old DEC technology - namely, VAX clustering - back into use, this time with Linux. Under a project called Distributed Lock Manager (DLM), the creators tout the software as "an implementation of the classic VAX cluster locking semantics for a Linux cluster." VAX is DEC's old mini-computer which housed the VMS operating system and for years was the standard in high-availability computing in large enterprises, rivaled only by IBM's mainframe. The machine was known for its superb clustering capabilities, which allowed between a dozen and several hundred machines to be grouped together to act as one large system. Nodes in the cluster could be brought up and down without notice from end users, making the cluster very reliable and scalable. While clustering technology exists today for Unix, Windows and Linux platforms, many long-time technology observers and users say that only the VAX ever got it right. Users with knowledge of VAX cluster administration should find DLM software familiar. DLM consists of software, a kernel module and daemon, plus shared API. The shared API runs on each client that controls the locking and unlocking of resources hosted by the cluster, such as applications and files. The DLM software also manages recovery of failed nodes, and the addition of new nodes to the cluster. The DLM code was previously used to support IBM's AIX-based high-availability system. However, with support for eight nodes, DLM does not match the clustering scale of the VAX, or even the commercial clustering systems available today. However, for users looking to put together a smallish, highly- available Linux cluster with Linux, DLM might be worth checking out. While documentation for the software is thin, DLM creators say some documentation from IBM on its high-availability clustering is complimentary to the DLM software, and is available at: http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/software/downloads/ha44lock.pdf _______________________________________________________________ To contact Phil Hochmuth: Phil Hochmuth is a staff writer for Network World, and a former systems integrator. You can reach him at mailto:phochmut at nww.com. _______________________________________________________________ RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Check out the DLM web page http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/projects/dlm/ Download the software http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/project/showfiles.php?group_id=27 &release_id=65