Homework One, Part 2

Guidelines:

This assignment is to be done on your own, without help from other students in the class. However, you may use any materials from any written resource, including web resources, and any information that you can obtain from vendors or marketing sources.

What you turn in:

1. Hand in a printed copy of your proposed system, due at the start of class on the day that it is due.

Assignment:

Suppose that you are given a budget of $20,000. Using current marketing information, give a bid of the best cluster that you can build with this budget. You can use either Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet for the network, but you can use any processor, memory, motherboard, disk drives, or other hardware and software components that you would like. You may purchase the nodes from a vendor such as Dell or Compaq, etc., if you like.

In addition to a table listing the vendor(s), parts, and prices, you must provide a summary paragraph justifying why you think this proposed system is the best cluster that you can build for the budget.

Here is a sample quote, with a somewhat higher budget!

Grading:

This assignment is worth 20 points, divided approximately equally among the following items:

• Does the writeup describe the components required for the cluster, prices, and the total price?
• Do you justify the selection of key components, and why the system as a whole is the best for the money.
• Do you leave out any important components, or do you identify any deficiencies that cannot be met within the budget?
• Is the bid free of spelling and grammatical errors, and overall does it stay within the allocated budget?

Enjoy!