<s>
A	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
cluster	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
computer	B-Architecture
cluster	I-Architecture
of	O
what	O
are	O
normally	O
identical	O
,	O
commodity-grade	O
computers	O
networked	O
into	O
a	O
small	O
local	B-General_Concept
area	I-General_Concept
network	I-General_Concept
with	O
libraries	O
and	O
programs	O
installed	O
which	O
allow	O
processing	O
to	O
be	O
shared	O
among	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
is	O
a	O
high-performance	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
cluster	O
from	O
inexpensive	O
personal	B-Device
computer	I-Device
hardware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
originally	O
referred	O
to	O
a	O
specific	O
computer	O
built	O
in	O
1994	O
by	O
Thomas	O
Sterling	O
and	O
Donald	O
Becker	O
at	O
NASA	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
"	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
"	O
comes	O
from	O
the	O
Old	O
English	O
epic	O
poem	B-Operating_System
of	I-Operating_System
the	I-Operating_System
same	I-Operating_System
name	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
No	O
particular	O
piece	O
of	O
software	O
defines	O
a	O
cluster	O
as	O
a	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typically	O
only	O
free	B-Application
and	I-Application
open	I-Application
source	I-Application
software	I-Application
is	O
used	O
,	O
both	O
to	O
save	O
cost	O
and	O
to	O
allow	O
customization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
clusters	I-Operating_System
run	O
a	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
system	I-Operating_System
,	O
such	O
as	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
or	O
Solaris	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Commonly	O
used	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
processing	I-Operating_System
libraries	O
include	O
Message	B-Application
Passing	I-Application
Interface	I-Application
(	O
MPI	B-Application
)	O
and	O
Parallel	B-Operating_System
Virtual	I-Operating_System
Machine	I-Operating_System
(	O
PVM	B-Operating_System
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
of	O
MPI	B-Application
software	O
include	O
Open	B-Library
MPI	I-Library
or	O
MPICH	B-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
additional	O
MPI	B-Application
implementations	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
systems	O
operate	O
worldwide	O
,	O
chiefly	O
in	O
support	O
of	O
scientific	O
computing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2017	O
,	O
every	O
system	O
on	O
the	O
Top500	B-Operating_System
list	O
of	O
the	O
world	O
's	O
fastest	B-Operating_System
supercomputers	I-Operating_System
has	O
used	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
software	O
methods	O
and	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
this	O
level	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
most	O
are	O
by	O
no	O
means	O
just	O
assemblages	O
of	O
commodity	O
hardware	O
;	O
custom	O
design	O
work	O
is	O
often	O
required	O
for	O
the	O
nodes	O
(	O
often	O
blade	B-Architecture
servers	I-Architecture
)	O
,	O
the	O
networking	O
and	O
the	O
cooling	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
description	O
of	O
the	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
cluster	I-Operating_System
,	O
from	O
the	O
original	O
"	O
how-to	O
"	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
published	O
by	O
Jacek	O
Radajewski	O
and	O
Douglas	O
Eadline	O
under	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
Documentation	O
Project	O
in	O
1998	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
a	O
number	O
of	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	I-Application
,	O
and	O
at	O
least	O
one	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
,	O
are	O
designed	O
for	O
building	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
clusters	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
cluster	O
can	O
be	O
set	O
up	O
by	O
using	O
Knoppix	O
bootable	O
CDs	O
in	O
combination	O
with	O
OpenMosix	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
computers	O
will	O
automatically	O
link	O
together	O
,	O
without	O
need	O
for	O
complex	O
configurations	O
,	O
to	O
form	O
a	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
cluster	I-Operating_System
using	O
all	O
CPUs	O
and	O
RAM	B-Architecture
in	O
the	O
cluster	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
cluster	I-Operating_System
is	O
scalable	O
to	O
a	O
nearly	O
unlimited	O
number	O
of	O
computers	O
,	O
limited	O
only	O
by	O
the	O
overhead	O
of	O
the	O
network	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Provisioning	O
of	O
operating	O
systems	O
and	O
other	O
software	O
for	O
a	O
Beowulf	B-Operating_System
Cluster	I-Operating_System
can	O
be	O
automated	O
using	O
software	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Open	B-Operating_System
Source	I-Operating_System
Cluster	I-Operating_System
Application	I-Operating_System
Resources	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
OSCAR	O
installs	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
a	O
standard	O
installation	O
of	O
a	O
supported	O
Linux	B-Application
distribution	I-Application
on	O
a	O
cluster	O
's	O
head	O
node	O
.	O
</s>
