Apply cluster and grid computing on parallel 3D rendering

A cluster is a collection of independent and cheap machines, used together as a supercomputer to provide a solution. A PC cluster consisting of one master node and nine disk-less slave nodes (10 processors), is proposed and built for parallel rendering purposes. The system architecture and benchmark performances of this cluster are also presented. Internet computing and grid technologies promise to change the way we tackle complex problems. They will enable large-scale aggregation and sharing of computational, data and other resources across institutional boundaries. Harnessing these new technologies effectively will transform scientific disciplines ranging from high-energy physics to the life sciences. Also, We construct two heterogeneous PC clusters for parallel rendering purpose and install Linux Red Hat 9 on each PC cluster. Then, these clusters are set to the different subnet. Therefore, we use the grid middleware /spl lambda/obus ToolKit, to connect these two clusters to form a grid computing environment on multiple Linux PC clusters. We also install the SUN Grid Engine, to manage and monitor incoming or outgoing computing jobs and schedule the job to achieve high performance computing and high CPU utilization. The system architecture and benchmark performances of this cluster are also presented.