The Norbert Limulus Cluster

Norbert Design

Norbert was designed to use totally off-the-shelf parts. There is no custom case work required. Of course the hardware could be placed in a smaller volume with a custom case design, but that would require extra work and our goal is to create an easy to assemble system.

Norbert basically consists of a head node and three diskless worker nodes. All nodes have an extra PCIe GigE card for compute traffic. The head node has a DVD, a hard drive, and an extra network card to connect to the LAN. Each node has a single socket Gigbyte GA-G33M-DS2R motherboard with a 2.33 GHz Core2 Duo (E6550) processor, and one GByte of RAM (upgraded to 2GB in 2008). There are a total of eight cores in Norbert. Norbert Pictures

Norbert measures 26 inches (66 cm) across, 16 (41 cm) inches deep, and 25 (64 cm) inches high. I placed the cases on a inexpensive wire shelf cart so it can be moved easily.

The following is a front view. The two GigE switches are on the top. Units can be removed without too much trouble, however, there is little need to take anything off the shelves. The cases have build in temperature sensors (blue lights on the front). The head node is located on the top left (it has a DVD drive).

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The following a picture of the back. The two switches can be seen on the top. Of course there is a need for some cabling clean up (I plan on making custom length cables). There is a powerstrip on bottom middle of the shelf. The single powerstrip cord is the only power connection needed.