رایانش خوشه ای تک بردی کالا و کاربردهای آنها
Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Single board computer overview
3- Single board cluster implementations
4- Use cases
5- Single board cluster management
6- The future of the SBC cluster
7- Conclusion
References
Abstract
Current commodity Single Board Computers (SBCs) are sufficiently powerful to run mainstream operating systems and workloads. Many of these boards may be linked together, to create small, low-cost clusters that replicate some features of large data center clusters. The Raspberry Pi Foundation produces a series of SBCs with a price/performance ratio that makes SBC clusters viable, perhaps even expendable. These clusters are an enabler for Edge/Fog Compute, where processing is pushed out towards data sources, reducing bandwidth requirements and decentralizing the architecture. In this paper we investigate use cases driving the growth of SBC clusters, we examine the trends in future hardware developments, and discuss the potential of SBC clusters as a disruptive technology. Compared to traditional clusters, SBC clusters have a reduced footprint, are low-cost, and have low power requirements. This enables different models of deployment—particularly outside traditional data center environments. We discuss the applicability of existing software and management infrastructure to support exotic deployment scenarios and anticipate the next generation of SBC. We conclude that the SBC cluster is a new and distinct computational deployment paradigm, which is applicable to a wider range of scenarios than current clusters. It facilitates Internet of Things and Smart City systems and is potentially a game changer in pushing application logic out towards the network edge.
Introduction
Commodity Single Board Computers (SBCs) are now sufficiently powerful that they can run standard operating systems and mainstream workloads. Many such boards may be linked together, to create small low-cost clusters that replicate features of large data centers, and that can enable new Fog and Edge Compute applications where computation is pushed out from the core of the network towards the data sources. This can reduce bandwidth requirements and latency, help improve privacy, and decentralize the architecture, but it comes at the cost of additional management complexity. In this paper, we investigate use cases driving the growth of SBC clusters, examine the trends in future hardware developments and cluster management, and discuss the potential of SBC clusters as a disruptive technology. The introduction of the Raspberry Pi has led to a significant change in the SBC market. Similar products such as the Gumstix have been available since 2003 [1], however, the Raspberry Pi has sold in much higher volumes leading to the company behind it being the fastest growing computer company in the world [2]. This has led to a dramatic increase in the number of SBC manufacturers and available products, as described in Section 2. Each of these products has been subject to different design decisions leading to a large variation in the functions available on the SBC. The low price point of SBCs has enabled clusters to be created at a significantly lower cost than was previously possible. We review prototypical SBC clusters in Section 3. SBC clusters can be created simply to gain an understanding of the challenges posed by such developments, but can also have practical uses where a traditional cluster would not be appropriate. The first SBC clusters, e.g., IridisPi [3] and the Glasgow Pi Cloud [4], were created primarily for education. Since then, SBC clusters have been created for many reasons including to manage art works [5,6], and to provide disposable compute power in extreme environments where node destruction is likely [7]. Section 4 highlights classes of use cases for this technology, including emergent fog and edge compute applications.