Hello there,
Does OpenBSD support virtualisation where multiple computers operate as one

single virtual system rather than just one system running as multiple

virtual systems?  I am thinking of buying a series of blade systems which I

want to run as one single system to offer redundancy for increased

reliability.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to which would be the most

suitable ones to choose?  I know Sun advertise Solaris as being capable of

this but don't yet know about xBSD.  I rather like Sun Microsystems kit but

have yet to decide which I will go for.  It will be used for a high volume

network so will need something with a high bandwidth capacity.
Regards,
A.

I think this is more or less the goal of DragonflyBSD or plan9.

You can also have a look at MOSIX on google. However, you should not expect to

be able to run all applications with this kind of model.
As someone mentioned, OpenBSD is extremely good at load balancing applications

with the bundle of pf/carp/hostated/ifstated.
It all depends on what you plan to run on this cluster.

There are clustering features in OpenBSD (e.g. CARP) and in ports,

but it doesn't support a "whole-system" method of clustering.  It

would help to know what you're trying to support via aggregation and

redundancy (bandwidth, databases, application servers, etc).
By the way, what happens when your blade chassis craps out?  ;)
---

Jason Dixon

DixonGroup Consulting

http://www.dixongroup.net

I want to use it for a mixture of web-hosting, virtual servers, etc. but

also for running a new online game.  I want to ensure (as much as is

possible) that a system fails for whatever reason the workload running on it

is automatically redistributed across the remaining systems.
A.

wont a well written game have very little crunching going on, just

a ton of push and pull? I'd rather design something that isn't

going to box me into needing the application to see one

singular environment. a bit off topic though. I'm trying to

encourage you to avoid the smp model IOW. Its overrated.

With a combination of pf and carp, you should be able to easily make

your load balanced web servers.

For the game however, the game should be designed to take care of the

load repartition itself.