PieToTheFace
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2016 12:10 am

Pie Cluster Questions

Thu Jun 09, 2016 12:17 am

I want to make my first RPi cluster, but I have a few questions.
1. Since one of them is a commander kind of thing, will it give its power to the entire cluster?
2. If I overclock 2 but don't overclock the rest, will there be a compatability issue?
3. Does the R.A.M add up or does it act like V.R.A.M?
4. Same question as number 3 but with the memory
5. Will this make streaming to my computer easier? (Gaming question)
6. Is there a maximum to how many I can add on or can I just put more on one after the other?
7. If I use the RPi 3 do I need ethernet?
Thank you for answering the questions!

klricks
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Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 3:01 am
Location: Grants Pass, OR, USA
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Re: Pie Cluster Questions

Thu Jun 09, 2016 1:50 am

The answer to all of your questions is NO.

The is no point in making a cluster for the general user. A cluster can be used as a learning experience for the maker who has specialized software to do specific tasks in tandem. That kind of system has no practical value for everyday tasks.
The resources of x number of RPi's don't add up any more than a room full of desktop computers would.

If you want to have multiple RPi's connected to your network each doing specific tasks, then that is fine. For example I have 1 RPi as a general purpose computer, 1 as a Kodi media center, 1 collects data from a weather station etc.
Unless specified otherwise my response is based on the latest and fully updated RPiOS Buster w/ Desktop OS.

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Douglas6
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Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Pie Cluster Questions

Thu Jun 09, 2016 1:53 am

Clustering is probably not what you think. Think of two people doing the same job. That doesn't mean you have one person twice as smart, or strong. Not all problems can be clustered. A little more research should clear things up.

PieToTheFace
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2016 12:10 am

Re: Pie Cluster Questions

Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:31 am

Douglas6 wrote:Clustering is probably not what you think. Think of two people doing the same job. That doesn't mean you have one person twice as smart, or strong. Not all problems can be clustered. A little more research should clear things up.
Thank you both for the answers! I was just wondering because another idea I had was a minecraft server, and I thought clustering would help. Thank you!

mthomason
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 12:28 pm

Re: Pie Cluster Questions

Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:27 pm

PieToTheFace wrote: Thank you both for the answers! I was just wondering because another idea I had was a minecraft server, and I thought clustering would help. Thank you!
Just to illustrate how this would work with clustering:

You would need the source code to the Minecraft server. Then you'd need to figure out a way to split the processing involved in running that server over multiple computers, and edit/rewrite the code to reflect that. At a very simple level you could, for example, split the number of players over the machines in the connection, and then have traffic between those machines syncing the positions and actions of players (there are other, far more effective, efficient, and stable ways of doing it, but I was purposely looking for a fairly easy-to-explain example.)

What you couldn't do is take the existing code and just "run it on a cluster." If the program doesn't know how to utilize a cluster, it'll just sit there on a single computer and only use that one (a bit like how a program that isn't written for multithreading can only use a single processor core)

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