Feature describes Windows 2003 server clusters

What is a cluster? There are two common cluster architectures, one is web/internet cluster system, which is to place data on different hosts, that is, multiple hosts are responsible for one service at the same time, and the other is the so-called parallel operation! Parallel operation is actually the work of the same operation, to the entire Cluster inside the CPU to perform a synchronous operation of a function. With the ability to use multiple CPUs, you can speed up the operation.

At present, more common in parallel operations, it is often necessary to see on the supercomputer that these supercomputers are used primarily in the work of astronomical, military, physical, and so much-needed computations, and that, given stability, they are usually used on the hardware architecture above the Unix system.

The server clustering feature was originally designed for the Microsoft Windows Nt®server 4.0 operating system, which is in the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server Significant improvements have been 2003 Datacenter Edition operating system. You can connect multiple servers together with server clustering to provide high availability and manageability for data and programs running in that cluster. The server cluster provides the following three main benefits of clustering technology:

• Higher availability. Allow services and applications in a server cluster to provide uninterrupted service under hardware or software component failures or during planned maintenance.

• Higher scalability. Support by adding multiple processors (up to 8 in Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, up to 32 in Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition) and additional memory (in Enterprise Edition , random access memory [RAM] can be up to 8 GB, up to up to GB in Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, to extend the server.

• Higher manageability. Allows administrators to manage devices and resources throughout the cluster as they would for a single computer.

This Cluster service is one of two complementary Windows clustering technologies that are provided to extend the Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 underlying operating systems. Another cluster technology is Network Load balancing (receptacle load balancing,nlb). Complementary to server clusters, this technology can support highly available and scalable clusters for front-end applications and services such as Internet or Intranet sites, web-based applications, media streaming, and Microsoft Terminal Services.

The emergence and use of computer clusters has been more than 10 years old. As one of the earliest cluster technology designers, G. Pfister's definition of clustering is "a parallel or distributed system consisting of a fully interconnected set of computers that can be used as a unified computing resource". By combining several server computers into a single unified cluster, multiple servers can share computing load without the user or administrator needing to know the details. For example, if any resource in a server cluster fails, the cluster as a whole can use resources from other servers in the cluster to continue providing services to users, regardless of whether the failed component is hardware or software resources.

In other words, when a resource fails, a user who is connected to the server cluster may experience a transient performance degradation, but will not completely lose access to the service. When higher processing power is required, administrators can add new resources by rolling the upgrade process. In this process, the cluster will remain online as a whole, not only for users, but also for improved performance after the upgrade. The Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition operating systems are designed and developed in full response to user and business requirements for cluster technology. The primary goal is to develop an operating system service that meets the cluster needs of most business organizations and organizations, rather than just small and specific market segments.

Microsoft market research shows that as the day-to-day operations of small and medium-sized business organizations become increasingly dependent on databases and e-mail, they have a high demand for highly available systems and are becoming increasingly robust. Easy to install and manage, is considered the most critical requirement for institutions of this size. Microsoft's survey also shows that large enterprises with high performance and high availability requirements are increasingly interested in windows-based servers.

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Server Cluster service developed as an integrated extension of Windows NT, Windows 2000, and the Windows Server 2003 base Operating system is the result of this market survey. The service is consistent with its design goals by connecting multiple servers and data storage components into a manageable unit, a server cluster. For systems running Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 applications in large and small businesses, the server clustering feature gives them high availability and manageability. The server cluster feature also provides the application interfaces and tools that are necessary to develop a new, clustered-aware application that leverages the high-availability features of the server cluster.