How to build a diskless cluster?

Pegasus IV Cluster

Pegasus downloads

Are you interested in building a diskless cluster based on Scientific Linux 7 / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 / CentOS 7? Do you wish to check out Pegasus? Here are few downloads that you may find useful.

Linux kernel for the compute nodes

We use a compact kernel based on longterm version 4.14.84. It contains drivers for both Intel and Realtek network interface chips. It successfully boots with a variety of current and older motherboards including (these are the one's we tested)

Intel: DG35EC and DG43GT with CPU core 2 quad Q9550
Gigabyte: H81M-HD2 with CPU core i5-4690, Z97M-DS3H with CPU core i5-4690K, H110M-A with CPU core i5-6600,

B360 D3H

Biostar: TH67B with CPU core i5-2500, H61MGV3 and B75MU3+ with CPU core i5-3570, H81MHC and B85S3+ with CPU core i5-4690

If you are lucky, this kernel will work with your motherboard as well, and you can avoid compiling your own kernel.

Kernel image: bzImage

Kernel configuration file: pegasus.config. You can use this as a starting point in case you wish to build your own kernel. Save it as ".config" in the kernel source directory before running "make menuconfig"

Initramfs and node root file system

We provide our initramfs and the node root file system as examples. In fact, if you call your server pegasus4 and assign the internal IP number 192.168.0.254, you may be able to use our initramfs and root file system with very few modifications.

Complete initramfs as handed to the nodes: initramfs.cpio.gz

Just the node root file system (this is contained in the initramfs above): newroot.tar.gz

We'd love to hear from you!

If you have built or are building a Pegasus cluster, we'd love to hear from you. We are not only interested in success stories but also in the problems you may have run into. We may even be able to help. (This is not a promise of support, though.) Please send an email to vojtat@mst.edu.