Needful changes for cluster operation

[Mark Stier <kalium@gmx.de>]

Hello,

Here's a list of things needed to be changed to make Debian really
cluster-operatable - at least as far as I know. I'm assuming that it's a
client-server cluster to which diskless workstations can be attached to. I'm
(therefore) additionally assuming that there's one server carrying all system
software, all data and all client configurations. Client's harddisk -- if
available -- may be used as nfscache, for swap, for "/tmp" and for booting.

1. The main problem I stepped onto are the daemons and SysVInit. Solution:
cluster-wide configuration data containing configuration data for all machines.
The configuration data sets may be linked to the ethernet addesses. This method
would be "clear" and no changes related to NFS daemons would be necessary (NFS
servers sending different files to different machines depending on IP or
ethernet address).

2. Setting up a cluster for different platforms requires two or more
versions of each binary. Would a Debian system work properly if we split binary
dirs from /usr/bin to /usr/i386/bin and /usr/m68k/bin etc. and set BIN/LIB
variables for each machine accordingly?

What's your opinion?

Regards,

Mark

-- 
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but 
most of them pick themselves up and hurry off 
as if nothing had happened. 
-- Winston Churchill