Clustering A cluster is a collection of relatively inexpensive systems that combine their collective power to perform large jobs that would normally be performed by a supercomputer or mainframe. Each processor is referred to as a node within the cluster. In general, nodes are rack mounted to preserve space. A 1980's mainframe, which took up a large room, can now be replaced by rack mounted nodes, which when stacked together, are about the same size as a refrigerator. The nodes communicate with each other using either standard network cable or special high speed clustering communication hardware.
All clusters are highly scalable and can be configured with non-proprietary hardware.
Parallel Clustering With parallel clustering, all nodes in the cluster function as one system to process a job. This type of cluster is best suited to tasks which are time and computational dependent. Since parallel clusters must pass information between nodes, high speed connectivity is a critical component of the cluster. A high performance cluster , or computational cluster, uses parallel processing. All nodes function as one computer to solve a single task, such as forecasting the weather or simulating biological growth patterns.