Implementation of a Virtualized Cluster Computing Environment

Abstract

A virtual machine provides a platform for installing an operating system (OS) within another OS, which provides resources. A virtual computational cluster system can be constructed using a single machine or cluster of real machines. A real machine cluster enables the complete utilization of its resources by users, whereas a virtual machine assigns the host's resources to residing OSs. This study used a Xen virtualized OS to construct a virtualized cluster computing system. Xen was selected as our system's OS because it delivers higher efficiency, supports various OS work simultaneously, and provides each OS with an independent system environment. The performance of the virtualized system was evaluated by comparing it with a non-virtualization system, which is a real cluster system. The results revealed that, when executing tasks and programs such as matrix multiplication, LINPACK, lower-upper triangular matrices, and Primes test sets, the virtualized system consumed less power and exhibited higher computing efficiency. The results showed that constructing a large-scale computing system using a virtual machine is favorable.