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Basic

§ 3.A: So Which Machine Should I Use?

Your best bet is to do your work on whichever machine has the fewest users or jobs to do. Yet you must log on to some machine before you can determine the workload on the cluster (we describe how to do that soon). An open console is a good machine to start with, or use an X station to a machine which does not get much use.

You can find out about users on the machines by executing the ps command:

Another option is to try the remote who command which goes snooping all over the cluster:

Because machine speed is dependent on workload, which machine is fastest may depend on the time of day (the familiar afternoon brownout). Keep in mind that even though you are logged on to one machine, you can easily open a window to another and do your work on it. (Try clicking the different mouse buttons in the desktop's background to raise menus of options, one of which may be a list of machines you can log onto automatically.)

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Comments and questions to Dr. Elias N. Houstis at enh@cs.purdue.edu.