Difference between revisions of "Grid computing"

Latest revision as of 16:49, 25 April 2016

Grid computing is the collection of computer resources from multiple locations to reach a common goal.

Description

The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files.

Distinguished from cluster computing

Grid computing is distinguished from cluster computing in that grid computers have each node set to perform a different task/application.

Grid computers also tend to be more heterogeneous and geographically dispersed (thus not physically coupled) than cluster computers.

General purpose

Although a single grid can be dedicated to a particular application, commonly a grid is used for a variety of purposes.

Middleware libraries

Grids are often constructed with general-purpose grid middleware software libraries.

Size

Grid sizes can be quite large. TO DO: how large? Example.

Distributed computing

Grids are a form of distributed computing whereby a “super virtual computer” is composed of many networked loosely coupled computers acting together to perform large tasks.

A special type of parallel computing

For certain applications, "distributed" or "grid" computing, can be seen as a special type of parallel computing that relies on complete computers (with onboard CPUs, storage, power supplies, network interfaces, etc.) connected to a computer network (private or public) by a conventional network interface, such as Ethernet.

This is in contrast to the traditional notion of a supercomputer, which has many processors connected by a local high-speed computer bus.

See also

• Cluster computing
• Distributed computing

External links

• Grid computing @ Wikipedia