Commodity computing: Difference between revisions

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| url = http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/pdf/Dorband.pdf

| quote = The purpose of commodity cluster computing is to utilize large numbers of readily available computing components for parallel computing to obtaining the greatest amount of useful computations for the least cost. The issue of the cost of a computational resource is key to computational science and data processing at GSFC as it is at most other places, the difference being that the need at GSFC far exceeds any expectation of meeting that need.

}}</ref> ItThis is computinga doneuseful in commodity computers as opposedalternative to in high-cost [[superminicomputer]]s or in [[boutique computer]]scomputers. Commodity computers are [[computer system]]s - manufactured by multiple vendors - incorporating components based on [[open standard]]s.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

== Characteristics ==

Such systems are said{{by whom|date=April 2017}} to be based on standardized computer components, since the standardization process promotes lower costs and less differentiation among vendors' products. Standardization and decreased differentiation lower the switching or exit cost from any given vendor, increasing purchasers' leverage and preventing [[Lock-invendor (decisionlock-making)in|lock-in]].

A governing principle of commodity computing is that it is preferable to have more low-performance, low-cost hardware working in parallel ([[scalar computing]]) (e.g. [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]] x86 [[Complex instruction set computing|CISC]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9154518/IBM_HP_servers_won_t_stop_x86_onslaught_on_Unix|title = IBM, HP servers won't stop x86 onslaught on Unix|date = 9 February 2010}}</ref>) than to have fewer high-performance, high-cost hardware items<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://research.google.com/pubs/DistributedSystemsandParallelComputing.html|title=Publications – Google Research}}</ref> (e.g. IBM [[POWER7]] or [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]]-[[Oracle Corporation|Oracle's]] [[SPARC]]<ref>[ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/common/ssi/pm/rg/n/poo03017usen/POO03017USEN.PDF ftp.software.ibm.com]{{Deaddead link|date=November 2019May 2025|bot=InternetArchiveBot medic}}{{cbignore|fix-attemptedbot=yes medic}}</ref> [[Reduced instruction set computing|RISC]]). At some point, the number of discrete systems in a cluster will be greater than the [[mean time between failures]] (MTBF) for any hardware platform{{Dubious |sentence on fault tolerance/mtbf doesn't make sense|reason=Units don't match for compared items: 1st one is without unit and for the second one unit is time|date=September 2017}}, no matter how reliable, so [[fault tolerance]] must be built into the controlling software.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi = 10.2200/S00193ED1V01Y200905CAC006|title = The Datacenter as a Computer: An Introduction to the Design of Warehouse-Scale Machines|year = 2009|last1 = Barroso|first1 = Luiz André|last2 = Hölzle|first2 = Urs|journal = Synthesis Lectures on Computer Architecture|volume = 4|pages = 1–108|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://insidehpc.com/2008/06/02/google-fellow-sheds-some-light-on-infrastructure-robustness-in-face-of-failure |title=ArchivedGoogle copyFellow sheds some light on infrastructure, robustness in face of failure &#124; insideHPC.com |access-date=2010-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810085127/http://insidehpc.com/2008/06/02/google-fellow-sheds-some-light-on-infrastructure-robustness-in-face-of-failure/ |archive-date=2011-08-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Purchases should be optimized on cost-per-unit-of-performance, not just on absolute performance-per-CPU at any cost.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

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When the first general purpose [[microprocessor]] was introduced in 1971 ([[Intel 4004]]) it immediately began chipping away at the low end of the computer market, replacing [[embedded system|embedded minicomputers]] in many industrial devices.

This process accelerated in 1977 with the introduction of the first commodity-like [[microcomputer]], the [[Apple II]]. With the development of the [[VisiCalc]] application in 1979, microcomputers broke out of the factory and began entering office suites in large quantities, but still through the back door.

=== The 1980s to mid-1990s ===

The [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] was introduced in 1981 and immediately began displacing [[Apple IIsII]] systems in the corporate world, but commodity computing as we know it today truly began when [[Compaq]] developed the first true [[IBM PC compatible]]. More and more PC-compatible microcomputers began coming into big companies through the front door and commodity computing was well established.

During the 1980s, microcomputers began displacing larger computers in a serious way. At first, price was the key justification but by the late 1980s and early 1990s, [[Very-large-scale integration|VLSI]] [[semiconductor]] technology had evolved to the point where microprocessor performance began to eclipse the performance of [[discrete logic]] designs. These traditional designs were limited by [[speed-of-light]] delay issues inherent in any CPU larger than a single chip, and performance alone began driving the success of microprocessor-based systems.

By the mid-1990s, nearly all computers made were based on microprocessors, and the majority of general purpose microprocessors were implementations of the [[x86]] [[instruction set architecture]]. Although there was a time when every traditional computer manufacturer had its own proprietary micro-based designs, there are only a few manufacturers of non-commodity computer systems today.

=== Today ===

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== External links ==

*[http://highscalability.com/ highscalability]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110810085127/http://insidehpc.com/2008/06/02/google-fellow-sheds-some-light-on-infrastructure-robustness-in-face-of-failure/ Inside HPC]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100209210545/http://labs.google.com/papers/mapreduce-osdi04-slides/index-auto-0021.html Fault tolerance Handled via re-execution]

*[http://hadoop.apache.org/ HADOOP]

*[httphttps://google-services.blogspot.com/2006/07/google-machine.html Google Commodity computing models]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160327235023/http://enterprisesystemsmedia.com/article/big-lie-revealed-commodity-servers-not-cheaper-than-mainframe The Big Lie Revealed]

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<!--Categories-->

[[Category:Computing platforms]]

[[Category:IBM PC compatibles|*]]

[[Category:Personal computers]]

[[Category:X86 microprocessors|*]]