Server cluster Concepts What do you really know?

On the surface, the concept of clustering is not difficult to understand. Clustering is a new technology that joins multiple computers together to form a whole, thus making better use of device resources. Ira Kramer, marketing director of Infinicon Bae, said: "A server cluster joins multiple physical servers in a variety of cluster architectures to work in a distributed cluster." The company provides cluster management equipment and services.

The mystery remains understandable. Terminology often loses its original accuracy when technical terminology is transmitted between engineers and market http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/38848.html "> Marketers". At present, there are many similar and related concepts, such as Fibre Channel (fabric), mesh (grid), diffusion (pervasive) and mesh computing (mesh computing), and so on, these methods can improve computational efficiency. Although they mean different things, these words can often be used interchangeably.

There are two common Cluster (clusters) architectures, one is Web/internet Cluster system, which is to place data on different hosts, that is, multiple hosts are simultaneously responsible for one service, 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.

A cluster consists of several servers interconnected by an input/output system. These servers are connected to storage media and are managed by distributed resource Management software (DRM). Its components are constantly being improved: Blade servers, fast InfiniBand I/O technology and more complex DRM software, which are grouped together to make clustering a utility for IT managers.

Vision FX, a highly available product program Manager Reier Torgerson, said: "Clustering will undoubtedly become the mainstream technology, the system must be on the power of the time is increasing, we know: Planned and unplanned downtime must be increasingly low." "

Different definitions

There are differences in how different companies name and use these terms, so the exact definition does not exist. Sun focuses on grid and cluster salutation, and Peter Ffoulkes, the planning manager of the company's High-performance Computing group, defines the cluster as a localized computer or server group. The grid is the matrix in which the cluster resides. Grids can exist across regions. For example, Ffoulkes said: The Sun's grid has leapt across California, Texas and Massachusetts. If needed, the company's DRM software can send a task from one cluster to another, rather than running the task locally.

HP focuses on the independence of the grid concept. "The grid is a collection of loosely connected computers with considerable distribution and independence," said Dan Cox, HP's Linux cluster program manager. It is not exactly configured in a clustered fashion. "

"Even after the current downturn, the new economy is changing its business model, which is increasingly supporting clustering, and it is moving from a cost center to a service center," Marty Ward, marketing director of Veritas Software, said.

In the service center model, the IT department manages the resources used by other departments to be more flexible and efficient in managing the methods. This requires technology that can expand its existing resources. Infinicon's CEO, Chuck Foley, said: ' A cluster can increase server efficiency by 15% to 80%, according to a Sun study. "To move to a service model that automates the management of resources and architectures, there are already technologies to achieve that," Ward said. "Although Ffoulkes is unfamiliar with the specific areas of research that Foley refers to, he says:" This data seems reasonable.