- Clustering refers to the combining of multiple servers in such a
manner that they appear to be a single powerful system. This technology
is used for load balancing and to build high performance systems.
- Clustered systems share common resources such as storage over dedicated
cluster file systems. Dedicated network connections (Gigabit Ethernet)
or high-performance, low-latency interconnects (Myrinet or InfiniBand)
are used to hook them up.
- Cluster computing is used primarily as a low-cost form of parallel
processing for scientific and other applications that lend themselves
to parallel operations.
- Their cost advantages have resulted in clusters elbowing out large
SMP machines in high-performance technical computing, the latest Top500
supercomputer list has 296 clusters, making clustering the commonest
architecture in the list.
- IMSc, Chennai has developed a Linux-based supercomputer using Linux
clusters at a cost of only Rs 2.5 crore—a fraction of what a traditional
supercomputer would cost.
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