Re: cluster vs. grid

[Greg Lindahl <lindahl@conservativecomputer.com>]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2001 at 08:41:37PM -0500, David L. Nicol wrote:

> So you see "cluster" as a narrow term, including single system image,
> not including transparent [de|at]tachment of nodes, and all nodes
> under common administratice authority; not encompassing "grid" which
> is a larger collection with looser coupling.

That's not mine, that's the one that's used widely within the cluster
community. 

> MPI/PVM? ?

MPI and PVM can be used in either clusters or distributed
computing. When I worked on Legion, I headed the application group,
and we implemented both MPI and PVM over Legion, which is clearly not
a cluster operating system, since it can span different administrative
domains.

> I have been told, "Condor is not a clustering architecture."  I suppose
> whoever said that thinks rsh is not a clustering architecture either.

Why don't you ask Miron Livney what he thinks Condor is? Hint: not a
cluster.

As for what's an authority, the IEEE Task Force on Cluster Computing
is the kind of body that most people consider authoritative. We had a
"what's a cluster" discussion once, and it was quite interesting.

g

Linux-cluster: generic cluster infrastructure for Linux
Archive:       http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-cluster/