Linux cluster application

[Andrew Watkins <andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm writing a parallel/distributed application that assesses the 
performance impact of frequent insertions/selects to databases on 
parallel file systems in a linux cluster environment.  Currently, the 
application calls for a database server to be running on each node of 
the cluster. Since my end-users may or may not have root access to the 
machines in the various clusters being used, I'm installing postgres 
from within the user's account to facilitate the starting and stopping 
of the postmaster without the need of root access.  My general question 
is if anyone has experience with such a situation where the database 
server would need to be started on each machine in a parallel 
environment.  If so, are there any suggestions for working with such a 
condition?

Thanks.