Today's computer users want the benefits of distributed systems, which include high availability, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and compliance to standards. In addition, users want the benefits of centralized systems, which balance high performance with ease of use and administration. To take full advantage of an open system in a distributed environment, users and system administrators must understand the topology of the system and underlying concepts such as remote hosts and network protocols. The system administrator's focus is the centralized computer, its software, and its peripherals.
Clusters can provide enterprises with nearly continuous access to applications and data.
Cluster nodes share a Cluster File System to which each node in the cluster has the same view and access. However, computing nodes can have different number of processors. An enterprise can choose the mix of computing nodes that is right for its needs. To provide for highly available connections, these logical interconnects should be implemented with multiple physical wires. Processes that constitute services such as logon, database, applications, transaction processing, batch processing, or printer spooling, are typically used by many clients.