How to create a Linux cluster for running physics simulations in java?

Question

I am developing a scientific application used to perform physical simulations. The algorithms used are O(n3), so for a large set of data it takes a very long time to process.

Answer 1

Have you looked at Terracotta?

For work distribution you'll want to use the Master/Worker framework.

Answer 2

Number 3 isn't difficult to do. It requires developing two distinct applications, the client and the supervisor. The client is pretty much what you have already, an application that runs a simulation. However, it needs altering so that it connects to the supervisor using TCP/IP or whatever and requests a set of simulation parameters. It then runs the simulation and sends the results back to the supervisor. The supervisor listens for requests from the clients and for each request, gets an unallocated simulation from a database and updates the database to indicate the item is allocated but unfinished. When the simulation is finished, the supervisor updates the database with the result. If the supervisor stores the data in an actual database (MySql, etc) then the database can be easily queried for the current state of the simulations. This should scale well up to the point where the time taken to provide the simulation data to all the clients is equal to the time required to perform the simulation.