28-10-2010, 10:07 AM
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cluster computing full report
INTRODUCTION________________________________________
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks. Clusters are usually deployed to improve performance and/or availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or availability. Today, a wide range of applications are hungry for higher computing power, and even though single processor PCs and workstations now can provide extremely fast processing; the even faster execution that multiple processors can achieve by working concurrently is still needed. Now, finally, costs are falling as well. Networked clusters of commodity PCs and workstations using off-the-shelf processors and communication platforms such as Myrinet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet are becoming increasingly cost effective and popular. This concept, known as cluster computing, will surely continue to flourish: clusters can provide enormous computing power that a pool of users can share or that can be collectively used to solve a single application. In addition, clusters do not incur a very high cost, a factor that led to the sad demise of massively parallel machines.
Clusters, built using commodity-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware components and free, or commonly used, software, are playing a major role in solving large-scale science, engineering, and commercial applications. Cluster computing has emerged as a result of the convergence of several trends, including the availability of inexpensive high performance microprocessors and high speed networks, the development of standard software tools for high performance distributed computing, and the increasing need of computing power for computational science and commercial applications.
cluster computing full report
INTRODUCTION________________________________________
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks. Clusters are usually deployed to improve performance and/or availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or availability. Today, a wide range of applications are hungry for higher computing power, and even though single processor PCs and workstations now can provide extremely fast processing; the even faster execution that multiple processors can achieve by working concurrently is still needed. Now, finally, costs are falling as well. Networked clusters of commodity PCs and workstations using off-the-shelf processors and communication platforms such as Myrinet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet are becoming increasingly cost effective and popular. This concept, known as cluster computing, will surely continue to flourish: clusters can provide enormous computing power that a pool of users can share or that can be collectively used to solve a single application. In addition, clusters do not incur a very high cost, a factor that led to the sad demise of massively parallel machines.
Clusters, built using commodity-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware components and free, or commonly used, software, are playing a major role in solving large-scale science, engineering, and commercial applications. Cluster computing has emerged as a result of the convergence of several trends, including the availability of inexpensive high performance microprocessors and high speed networks, the development of standard software tools for high performance distributed computing, and the increasing need of computing power for computational science and commercial applications.
