ClusterMonkey: In our last column, we took a general look at the problem of resource management. This time around, we're going to take a quick stroll through the options for resource management on your cluster. There are a variety of possibilities available, which vary by capability, price, license, and platforms on which they work. Many of the resource management packages available have forked into multiple versions or changed names, leading to a somewhat confusing marketplace for the cluster administrator trying to decide what to do. In this column, we'll trace the origins and history of the popular players, to try and give you some insight into how we got to the state of things today, as the philosophical differences that led to the splits may have a big impact on the features you'll get.

While the total number of choices is large, a few factors will greatly simplify your decision. A couple of packages dominate the world of production solutions. Some of the other options may be just as good, but only work with certain packages and distributions, that you may or may not be using. By the end of this column, you'll have a rough picture of what's out there, and what might work on your cluster. You will be well advised to check the project and vendor web sites for further information as this topic is quite vast and individual needs vary greatly.

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