On Tue, Feb 29, 2000 at 02:45:21PM +0000, Paul Jakma mentioned:
> > Would it not be cheaper to put four ethernet cards in each machine,
> > rather than going for a switch ? it's a good bit faster/cheaper/cool
> > looking.
> But a multiport NIC is pretty pointless if connected to a hub. So he'd
> need a switch anyway...
No. Back-to-back, like all the high-end beowulf systems. They usually
have a single connection to a hub or switch, and a few back-to-back
connections to other machines. With four cards, in a 16-machine cluster,
you can get 25% of your machines with dedicated back to back full duplex
100mbit/sec connections, and the other's hang off a cheap switch.
That said, my brother is selling gigabit ethernet PCI cards for £400 a
piece, so even that's not an amazingly expensive alternative.
Kate
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