Single bigger computer from multiple smaller?

[idiriasl]

Hi,

First of all, sorry if I am not posting on the right forum but when I try to post it into another one it complains about that I have no rights for it... :-S

Someone has asked me if I can use vmware to gather resources from multiple machines to build a bigger, single one. I mean i.e., take 4 dual core machines with 1 GB each and build a single computer with 8 cores and 4 GB of RAM (without physically breaking each in parts and solding them together :-)). I remember I read something that I can join machines and I will see them in the vCenter like a single one but that I won't be able to run a virtual machine with bigger requirements than one of those individual machines and that this possibility is just for convenience a simpler management... what is that vMware characteristic's name?.

Thanks in advance.

[weinstein5]

I think you are referring to GRID Computing -  where you can pool the resources of multiple individual computers to work on a single problem.vSphere can be used as an underlying technology for these individual systems.

[idiriasl]

Well, not really. Grid computing is not transparent and you need to programatically design software to make use of it. I mean building a logical single computer from some physical individual servers. It would be something like creating an abstraction layer on ESXi that makes all the underlying hardware look as a single machine to the guest operating system. So if the processor on physical machine A needs to read something from memory and that portion of memory is on machine B, the ESXi layer will make that NUMA (Non-uniform memory accesss) memory access transparent.

Cheers.

[Tyomni]

I haven't seen something like that, but I'm really sure it would work with lot of issues, problems with multiple drivers etc. The grid system is much easier although it is more advanced.

[RParker]

idiriasl wrote:

Well, not really. Grid computing is not transparent and you need to programatically design software to make use of it. I mean building a logical single computer from some physical individual servers. It would be something like creating an abstraction layer on ESXi that makes all the underlying hardware look as a single machine to the guest operating system. So if the processor on physical machine A needs to read something from memory and that portion of memory is on machine B, the ESXi layer will make that NUMA (Non-uniform memory accesss) memory access transparent.

Cheers.

If you can demonstrate where this is possible on ANY platform, AIX, Unix, HP-UX, Linux, Windows, AS/400 or Cray.. then we would like to know.  Otherwise if this isn't currently possible on ANY platform now, you can't expect it to work with VM Ware either.

VM's are not magic, they are simply managed virtually.. that's ALL this is, it doesn't change HOW OS interacts, they are just "virtual" machines... So demonstrate where you can take a physical machine on a network and converge ALL those apps from many places, and make a "central" computer from that..

If it is possible, then you can run that APP or OS that makes it possible inside a virtual machine.. that's all it would take.

Are you sure you didn't watch some Movie and simply thought it was possible?

[RParker]

idiriasl wrote:

Hi,

I can join machines and I will see them in the vCenter like a single one but that I won't be able to run a virtual machine with bigger requirements than one of those individual machines and that this possibility is just for convenience a simpler management... what is that vMware characteristic's name?.

Thanks in advance.

That isn't VM ware, that is called "client / server".  You run pieces of applications on different systems, such as reporting, or intergration, or web.. and then they are MANAGED by a central service, but they aren't merged at any point.  Virtual machines are what everyone is moving toward, not trying to go back to the mainframe days..

you are over complicating your goal anyway.  Why make all disparate apps work as one unit?  think of VM's as processors running different parts of app that don't share the same resource..  But the convenience of simpler management is EXACTLY how ESX works.. You must have confused this with other technologies someplace.

[mcowger]

RParker wrote:

If you can demonstrate where this is possible on ANY platform, AIX, Unix, HP-UX, Linux, Windows, AS/400 or Cray.. then we would like to know.  Otherwise if this isn't currently possible on ANY platform now, you can't expect it to work with VM Ware either.

There are some IBM systems that can do exactly this, albeit in a limited fashion, so it IS possible.

VM's are not magic, they are simply managed virtually.. that's ALL this is, it doesn't change HOW OS interacts, they are just "virtual" machines... So demonstrate where you can take a physical machine on a network and converge ALL those apps from many places, and make a "central" computer from that..

I think thats the question the OP was asking - can VMware do this.  Clearly, the answer is no...

If it is possible, then you can run that APP or OS that makes it possible inside a virtual machine.. that's all it would take.

Are you sure you didn't watch some Movie and simply thought it was possible?

That was a little harsh, no?