Acknowledgments

While the cover of this book displays only my name, it is the work of a number of people. First and foremost, credit goes to the people who created the software described in this book. The quality of this software is truly remarkable. Anyone building a cluster owes a considerable debt to these developers.

This book would not exist if not for the students I have worked with both at Lander University and Wofford College. Brian Bell's interest first led me to investigate clusters. Michael Baker, Jonathan DeBusk, Ricaye Harris, Tilisha Haywood, Robert Merting, and Robert Veasey all suffered through courses using clusters. I can only hope they learned as much from me as I learned from them.

Thanks also goes to the computer science department and to the staff of information technology at Wofford College-in particular, to Angela Shiflet for finding the funds and to Dave Whisnant for finding the computers used to build the clusters used in writing this book. Martin Aigner, Joe Burnet, Watts Hudgens, Jim Sawyers, and Scott Sperka, among others, provided support beyond the call of duty. Wofford is a great place to work and to write a book. Thanks to President Bernie Dunlap, Dean Dan Maultsby, and the faculty and staff for making Wofford one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation.

I was very fortunate to have a number of technical reviewers for this book, including people intimately involved with the creation of the software described here, as well as general reviewers. Thanks goes to Kris Buytaert, a senior consultant with X-Tend and author of the openMosix HOWTO, for reviewing the chapter on openMosix. Kris's close involvement with the openMosix project helped provide a perspective not only on openMosix as it is today, but also on the future of the openMosix project.

Thomas Naughton and Stephen L. Scott, both from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and members of the OSCAR work group, reviewed the book. They provided not only many useful corrections, but helpful insight into cluster software as well, particularly OSCAR.

Edmund J. Sutcliffe, a consultant with Thoughtful Solutions, attempted to balance my sometimes myopic approach to clusters, arguing for a much broader perspective on clusters. Several topics were added or discussed in greater detail at his insistence. Had time allowed, more would have been added.

John McKowen Taylor, Jr., of Cadence Design System, Inc., also reviewed the book. In addition to correcting many errors, he provided many kind words and encouragement that I greatly appreciated.

Robert Bruce Thompson, author of two excellent books on PC hardware, corrected a number of leaks in the hardware chapter. Unfortunately, developers for Rocks declined an invitation to review the material, citing the pressures of putting together a new release.

While the reviewers unfailingly pointed out my numerous errors and misconceptions, it didn't follow that I understood everything they said or faithfully amended this manuscript. The blame for any errors that remain rests squarely on my shoulders.

I consider myself fortunate to be able to work with the people in the O'Reilly organization. This is the second book I have written with them and both have gone remarkably smoothly. If you are thinking of writing a technical book, I strongly urge you to consider O'Reilly. Unlike some other publishers, you will be working with technically astute people from the beginning. Particular thanks goes to Andy Oram, the technical editor for this book. Andy was constantly looking for ways to improve this book. Producing any book requires an small army of people, most of whom are hidden in the background and never receive proper recognition. A debt of gratitude is owed to many others working at O'Reilly.

This book would not have been possible without the support and patience of my family. Thank you.