Development of a virtual cluster

VCNet is a non-invasive technology which enhances student learning opportunities by allowing each student individual access to their own virtual cluster without the need for specialised hardware. This paper chronicles the development of a virtual cluster in a university teaching lab to supplement the main cluster activities providing students and developers with essential resources without compromise to the main cluster. Each VCNet is constructed (within a single PC) to the same basic design as the University´s main cluster to ensure that programs developed on VCNet will run unaltered on the main cluster. As well as examining how such a system was constructed, the authors assess its performance and review other possible alternatives.