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[[File:MEGWARE.CLIC.jpg|thumb|Technicians working on a large [[Linux]] cluster at the [[Chemnitz University of Technology]], Germany]]
[[File:Sun Microsystems Solaris computer cluster.jpg|thumb|Sun Microsystems [[Solaris Cluster]], with [[Close Coupled Cooling#In-Row Air Conditioners|In-Row cooling]]]]
[[File:Taiwania series.jpg|thumb|[[Taiwania_(supercomputer)|Taiwania]] series uses cluster architecture, with great capacity, which helped scientists of [[Taiwan]] and many others during [[COVID-19]].]]
A '''computer cluster''' is a set of [[computers]] that work together so that they can be viewed as a single system. Unlike [[Grid computing|grid computer]]s, computer clusters have each [[Node (networking)|node]] set to perform the same task, controlled and scheduled by software.
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==Basic concepts==
[[File:Beowulf.jpg|thumb|150px|A simple, home-built [[Beowulf cluster]]
The desire to get more computing power and better reliability by orchestrating a number of low-cost [[commercial off-the-shelf]] computers has given rise to a variety of architectures and configurations.
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{{Main|History of computer clusters}}
{{See also|History of supercomputing}}
[[File:SPEC-1 VAX 05.jpg|thumb|150px|A [[VAX]] 11/780, c. 1977, as used in early [[VAXcluster]] development
Greg Pfister has stated that clusters were not invented by any specific vendor but by customers who could not fit all their work on one computer, or needed a backup.<ref>{{cite book | last = Pfister | first = Gregory | title = In Search of Clusters | edition = 2nd | publisher = Prentice Hall PTR | ___location = Upper Saddle River, NJ | year = 1998 | page = [https://archive.org/details/insearchofcluste00pfis/page/36 36] | isbn = 978-0-13-899709-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/insearchofcluste00pfis/page/36 }}</ref> Pfister estimates the date as some time in the 1960s. The formal engineering basis of cluster computing as a means of doing parallel work of any sort was arguably invented by [[Gene Amdahl]] of [[IBM]], who in 1967 published what has come to be regarded as the seminal paper on parallel processing: [[Amdahl's Law]].
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The first production system designed as a cluster was the Burroughs [[B5700]] in the mid-1960s. This allowed up to four computers, each with either one or two processors, to be tightly coupled to a common disk storage subsystem in order to distribute the workload. Unlike standard multiprocessor systems, each computer could be restarted without disrupting overall operation.
[[File:TNSII.jpg|thumb|Tandem NonStop II circa 1980
The first commercial loosely coupled clustering product was [[Datapoint|Datapoint Corporation's]] "Attached Resource Computer" (ARC) system, developed in 1977, and using [[ARCnet]] as the cluster interface. Clustering per se did not really take off until [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] released their [[VAXcluster]] product in 1984 for the [[OpenVMS|VMS]] operating system. The ARC and VAXcluster products not only supported [[parallel computing]], but also shared [[file system]]s and [[peripheral]] devices. The idea was to provide the advantages of parallel processing, while maintaining data reliability and uniqueness. Two other noteworthy early commercial clusters were the [[Tandem Computers|''Tandem NonStop'']] (a 1976 high-availability commercial product)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Katzman |first=James A. |title=Computer Structure: Principles and Examples |publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Company |year=1982 |isbn= |editor-last=Siewiorek |editor-first=Donald P. |___location=U.S.A. |pages=470–485 |chapter=Chapter 29, The Tandem 16: A Fault-Tolerant Computing System}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of TANDEM COMPUTERS, INC. – FundingUniverse |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/tandem-computers-inc-history/ |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=www.fundinguniverse.com}}</ref> and the ''IBM S/390 Parallel Sysplex'' (circa 1994, primarily for business use).
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==Attributes of clusters==
[[File:Load Balancing Cluster (NAT).svg|thumb|A load balancing cluster with two servers and N user stations
Computer clusters may be configured for different purposes ranging from general purpose business needs such as web-service support, to computation-intensive scientific calculations. In either case, the cluster may use a [[high-availability cluster|high-availability]] approach. Note that the attributes described below are not exclusive and a "computer cluster" may also use a high-availability approach, etc.
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==Design and configuration==
[[File:beowulf.png|thumb|240px|left|A typical Beowulf configuration
One of the issues in designing a cluster is how tightly coupled the individual nodes may be. For instance, a single computer job may require frequent communication among nodes: this implies that the cluster shares a dedicated network, is densely located, and probably has homogeneous nodes. The other extreme is where a computer job uses one or few nodes, and needs little or no inter-node communication, approaching [[grid computing]].
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==Cluster management==
[[File:Cubieboard HADOOP cluster.JPG|thumb|Low-cost and low energy tiny-cluster of [[Cubieboard]]s, using [[Apache Hadoop]] on [[Lubuntu]]]]
[[File:Circumference C25 (41227579055).png|thumb|A pre-release sample of the Ground Electronics/AB Open Circumference C25 cluster [[Computers|computer]] system, fitted with 8x [[Raspberry Pi]] 3 Model B+ and 1x UDOO x86 boards
One of the challenges in the use of a computer cluster is the cost of administrating it which can at times be as high as the cost of administrating N independent machines, if the cluster has N nodes.<ref name=patter641 >{{cite book|title=Computer Organization and Design|first1=David A.|last1=Patterson|first2=John L.|last2=Hennessy|year=2011|isbn=978-0-12-374750-1|pages=641–642|publisher=Elsevier }}</ref> In some cases this provides an advantage to [[shared memory architecture]]s with lower administration costs.<ref name=patter641 /> This has also made [[virtual machine]]s popular, due to the ease of administration.<ref name=patter641 />
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