Grid Computing Framework

[BioPhysEngr]

Hi,

I am looking for a grid computing framework to use. Mostly I would like to deploy a system on some of our home desktop computers (a heterogenous mix of Windows and Linux boxes of widely varying power) to take advantage of spare CPU cycles (in the manner of BOINC-driven SETI@Home type projects).

If possible, I would like to be able to issue an order to execute a program from one master node and have all of the computers in the cluster already listening and able to execute the program. (As opposed to the alternative of needing to manually copy a program everywhere, execute the program on each node and then execute the master program that coordinates issuing tasks). Can anyone give me a good recommendation for grid computing framework?

I usually like to write in C#, so a framework that works well with that would be a plus (though I am not opposed to writing in other languages -- i.e. C++ -- if that's what makes most sense). I noticed NGrid and Alchemi as .NET-enabled grid frameworks, but don't have much reference point from which to compare them. Does anyone have experience with these?

Alternatively, I've looked into OpenMPI, but am not sure if it can support my goal of "issue one command on one box and it runs across the cluster". Does anyone have experience with MPI and that?

Thanks for any advice. This has been a project I've been thinking about for awhile, but have never quite been able to chose a solution for based on just Googling around.

[dglienna]

That's pretty much what a BotNet does, but not for good purposes.

I'd suggest getting a Developers Account at Azure. Create a scalable application that you can run in the cloud, on one small one-processor machine. Spin up many threads, until you see a hit on performance. Then, pay for TWO processors.

At about $ .0001/compute hour, it's great when you need 10,000 machines for a few hours...