Re: Compaq launches Open SSI Cluster Projects

[Alan Robertson]

[e-mail] wrote:
> 
> Compaq has launched two open source technology projects
> under the GPL license. 

[snip]
 
> Cluster Infrastructure for Linux (CI)
>   The goal of this project is to develop a common
> infrastructure for many if not all forms of Linux
> clustering by extending the Cluster Membership and
> Inter-node Communication Subsystems from Compaq's
> NonStop Clusters for Unixware code base.

Hi Bruce,

Welcome to the growing ranks of companies who've decided to create a new
open source high-availability project!

In the Linux community, we seem to have an embarassment of riches when it
comes to HA software.

As you are aware, there is an effort to create a framework of common APIs
and infrastructure for cluster systems and cluster-aware apps.  It covers HA
and HPC clustering, and is intended to encourage sharing of components, and
creation of common interfaces for cluster-aware apps in order to maximize
the benefits of the open source development model, and to create a little
sanity for developers who wish to write cluster-aware apps for Linux and
other environments supported by the Cluster Framework project.  The cluster
framework project will support (at least) Linux, OpenBSD, Solaris, FreeBSD. 
It will probably also support other OSes (such as Tru64 UNIX), depending on
community interest.

It sounds like there is an excellent match between your desires and those of
the cluster framework project. There is a need for different implementations
of cluster components to meet the diverse needs of cluster users.  I'm
confident that your COMPAQ CI for Linux system would make an excellent
addition to the list of cluster components available with the framework.

As a note, it is not necessary for any given cluster component (like the
COMPAQ CI for Linux (CCIL?)) to be available for every platform.  Since the
APIs are common, applications need not be aware of the differences.

There is an work-in-progress paper on the Cluster Framework available on
http://linux-ha.org/framework/

	Congratulations and Welcome!

	-- Alan Robertson
	   [e-mail]