What Can You Do With Raspberry Pi Cluster

February 15, 2022 Post a Comment

Clusters on Raspberry Pi is a trending topic on the Internet (you find tests, tutorial and awesome pictures everywhere).
I as well did a tutorial a few months agone on how to create a basic cluster with two Raspberry Pi, but I got many questions well-nigh why might we need one.
Read on if you want the answer 🙂

What'southward the bespeak of a Raspberry Pi cluster?
The goal of a Raspberry Pi cluster is to combine the performances of several devices into a stack.
Building a cluster is a fun project, and information technology can also exist useful for applications that require many CPU cores, but non so much execution speed.

To go further, I volition offset by explaining the logic behind a Raspberry Pi cluster, and then give you some inspiration with several cool examples.

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When tin can a Raspberry Pi cluster be useful?

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Yes, the Raspberry Pi is inexpensive but the performances are not optimal.
So why could nosotros demand a Raspberry Pi cluster?

More RAM?

The outset idea tin be to build a cluster to get more than RAM.
This may be a good idea if your awarding need a lot of RAM, but the total cost will non exist the best choice.

Buying 4x Raspberry Pi iv 8 GB will be expensive for a cluster (eight GB on Amazon).
If y'all desire to keep your money, a 32 GB total memory with compute module will be a lot cheaper than that (check the price on Amazon).

Yes, the memory module solution demand a computer to host it, but you can use any old computer, it will probably be better than four Raspberry Pi 4.

More than CPU?

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The 2d idea can be to get a powerful CPU with several cheap Raspberry Pi instead of buying a traditional PC or server
Still, not the best reason for building a Raspberry Pi cluster.

As yous can see in this benchmark (source: Reddit), the Raspberry Pi CPU are really low in performances. So, whatsoever cheap computer will do better in terms of CPU speed:

You will need over ten Raspberry Pi iv to friction match the Intel i3 performances.
The Intel i3 processor from the criterion cost about the same price as a Raspberry Pi 4 (check the current price on Amazon).
Aye, that's only for the processor but you can also utilize an sometime figurer (the first i3 was released over 10 years ago!)
Y'all can even use an Intel NUC instead. This NUC has 8 GB RAM, a 240 GB SSD and Windows 10 included, then information technology'southward a improve deal overall (all details hither on Amazon).

Faster deejay access?

I volition be quick on this i, y'all already know that a SD carte du jour is not the faster manner to store or access data.
In general, we consider that recent SSD models are over ten times faster than any SD bill of fare.
Fifty-fifty if Datalight has institute a manner to increment SD cards speed (check the summary on ZDNet), that's not the fashion we utilize SD cards on our Raspberry Pi. And four SD cards, will never be faster than a SSD.

And then if yous want a faster disk, plug a SSD bulldoze (information technology's cheap at present), utilize a NUC or any figurer, merely a cluster is not a good thought.

More CPU cores?

The last idea is want to explore is to accept a huge amount of CPU cores with a cluster.
And in fact, that'south near the only reason why you might desire to build a Raspberry Pi Cluster.

About all Raspberry Pi models have a quad-cores CPU (the simply exception are Raspberry Pi ane and Zero).
So if you lot use 4x Raspberry Pi 4 1GB, you'll get 16 cores available for less than $150 (twice the cost on Amazon).
If you lot count in threads, the equivalent is a loftier-end Intel i7 (something like this). If not, the only processor from Intel with xvi cores is currently the latest Intel i9 Extreme Edition (ten times more expensive on Amazon).

And it's fifty-fifty more difficult to detect an alternative if you stack more Raspberry Pi (8x Raspberry Pi is 32 cores!).
Note: AMD could be cheaper for cores simply, but I don't really know this make.

Raspberry Pi 4 vs Compute Module

And then yes, the only reasons to build a Raspberry Pi cluster are:

Looking for many CPU cores (but no performances required)
Learning how information technology works
For fun 🙂

To complete, this part, I want to introduce the Raspberry Pi Compute Module.
I rarely write virtually information technology considering there is almost no interest for a habitation user.
The thought behind this production is to allow anyone to use the Raspberry Pi technology on another motherboard. Then information technology looks like a Raspberry Pi zero, with no external ports, like to a retentivity module (more details on Pi-Supply).

Except the other usages, information technology can be an awesome thought to build a Raspberry Pi cluster with compute modules only!
Each module has a quad-cadre CPU and is cheaper than most Raspberry Pi (bank check the in a higher place link for the electric current price).

But how to build it has in that location is no Ethernet port?
You need a specific board, and the Clusterboard is the perfect one to build a cluster (bachelor on Pine64).
You tin can plug 7 computes modules on it for a total price under $300!

Exercise you know a computer with 28 cores cheaper than $300?
Non me 🙂

5 Raspberry Pi clusters examples

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I will at present give y'all 5 examples of clusters with Raspberry Pi, so you tin get a meliorate idea on how to use them and why.

Bones Cluster

The first one is just to build your first cluster. There is no specific stop goal with it, except to larn how it works.
For example, if you lot have two Raspberry Pi at dwelling (any models), you tin can follow my tutorial to try this.

You'll have a chief node and a second node.
In this basic example, I'm using the Python library: MPI4PY
This way y'all can run any command on both nodes

Running a command two times is not really useful, but if you have any script that can run on several cores, it's already a good demonstration.

Docker

The next 2 are more than technologies than examples, but it's important to know how information technology works on the software role.

Docker is a engineering allowing yous to run an awarding in an isolated environment on any operating system.
This surroundings is name a container, information technology'due south a bit like a virtual machine if y'all want.
You lot tin have several containers on the same computer.

Docker has been created to facilitate the life of developers. It's easier to code, deploy and run applications with it than to adjust to each organisation.
But Docker as well includes clustering features, that are like shooting fish in a barrel to install on a cluster.

I don't have a tutorial virtually this, but you can read this one that explains everything

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is the next pace once you main what is Docker and how information technology works.
In the previous tutorial, you lot may have seen that we employ Docker to manage the application, and Swarm to use it on several nodes.
Kubernetes is similar an upgrade to Swarm, with more than features for scaling, running and monitoring the applications.

I never tried it yet, so I will not give yous more than details about this, but you lot can discover plenty of tutorials on the web about this (for Raspberry Pi or Linux in general).
For example, at that place is a stride-by-pace tutorial on the official website.

Supercomputer

Let'due south dive to something more physical at present.
Once you lot empathise and experiment the cluster basics, you can first to think bigger. It'southward nearly the same process, repeated many times 🙂

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On this moving picture, you can see the Supercomputer from Los Alamos laboratory (source: ExtremeTech). It'southward built with not less than 750 Raspberry Pi.

Scientists utilise this crawly cluster constantly.
The total toll is under $20,000, and above all the power needed is 5,000 times lower than other supercomputers. Aye, information technology not the aforementioned operation, but it's already 3,000 CPU cores bachelor, and they are happy to have information technology for "minor" tasks.

And then for specific needs and depression budget, it's really a good case of what yous can do with a lot of Raspberry Pi!

Web server

It'due south not really different case, only equally a more than concrete example, y'all can likewise utilize a cluster to run a web server.
By the mode, information technology's exactly what the Raspberry Pi Foundation has washed for the Raspberry Pi 4 launch

They apply a cluster with 18 Raspberry Pi 4 to demonstrate that a cluster can practice the chore to host a expert part of their web traffic for a launch day.
Aught fancy in terms of engineering science, just Apache and PHP for the spider web part.
Yep, Apache can run on several servers and practice some load balancing natively (all details here).

If you are interested in this projection, there is a blog post on the Raspberry Pi Blog.
Mythic beats is the host they used. Past the manner, you can try their services here.

Conclusion

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That's it, you at present have a better idea of what is a Raspberry Pi cluster, and what you tin do with it.
If yous are interested, you can follow my tutorial hither to build your commencement i!

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Source: https://raspberrytips.com/raspberry-pi-cluster-uses/

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