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Cluster computing is a type of computing where a group of several computers are linked together, allowing the entire group of computers to behave as if it were a single entity. There are a wide variety of different reasons why people might use cluster computing for various computer tasks. For example, cluster computing combines the computing capability of all the involved computers, helping people who cannot afford a single computer with those capabilities to still be able to take advantage of that level of computing power.
Cluster computing is also used to make sure that a computing system will always be available. It is unknown when this cluster computing concept was first developed, and several different organizations have claimed to have invented it. Some people suggest that cluster computing was probably developed independently by several different people in order to meet their unique computing needs a long time before the technique was ever applied to an industrial setting.
A common application for the cluster computing concept is to host websites such as large-scale websites or top affiliate programs. The cluster distributes the load of the website’s traffic or visitors across a wide range of different computers so that the website can accommodate more visitors at any one single time. Cluster computing is also widely used for the creation of gaming servers when large groups are gaming and want to be able to avoid login problems and issues relating to server lag.
One type of cluster computing is HA or High Availability Cluster Computing, which is used to create a redundant network that all users can access all the time. Fail-safes are generally put in place in case a part of the cluster should happen to break down. There are also load-balancing cluster computers that address large loads of simultaneously incoming requests, coordinating those requests in such a way that both efficiency and usability will be maximized.
