MOSIX excels in running compute-intensive software and applications that require only moderate I/O, making it a suitable solution for such workloads.
One of MOSIX's key features is its ability to make all connected nodes perform like a single computer with multiple processors, similar to an SMP. This allows users to run parallel and sequential applications by creating multiple processes and letting MOSIX seek resources and automatically migrate processes among nodes to improve overall performance, without changing the run-time environment of migrated processes. Moreover, MOSIX is fully POSIX compatible, providing applications with a run-time environment identical to standard Unix, eliminating the need to change or link applications with any special library.
Originally developed to manage a single private cluster, MOSIX has been extended with new features that allow sets of independent nodes to run as a federated system of cooperative nodes, forming a MOSIX grid. This grid can consist of one or more physical clusters, collections of independent servers and workstations belonging to different users, or any combination of the above configurations. The goal of a MOSIX grid is to provide owners with the ability to share their computational resources while preserving autonomy, allowing them to disconnect their nodes from the grid at any time without sacrificing migrated processes from other clusters.
Due to network latencies, MOSIX is best suited for running compute-intensive and other applications with moderate amounts of I/O over fast networks. Tests have shown that the performance of several such applications over a 1Gb/s campus grid is nearly identical to that of a single cluster. It is worth noting that a safe computing environment also requires a guarantee that the network is trusted and secure. Since these requirements are standard within clusters and enterprise intra-organizational grids, such as over VPNs, MOSIX is recommended for use in these cases.
Apart from the above safety requirements, there are no restrictions on the use of MOSIX in other grids. Overall, MOSIX is a powerful and versatile management system that makes it easy to create and manage clusters, allowing users to take full advantage of their computing resources.
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