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Distributed vs Cluster computing?
I was just wondering, whats the difference between distributed computing and cluster computing?
They both can run over a network connection such as Gigabit Ethernet but is there a difference or are they basically the same thing?
And please, no wikipedia copy and pastes, I've already looked there :P
Thanks!
2 Answers
- JoelKatzLv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
Cluster computing is a type of distributed computing. Distributed computing just means coordinating a number of computers to accomplish a single task. Cluster computing means the computers are specifically organized just to work together to accomplish a single task.
For example, massively parallel "grid computing" projects like seti@home and folding@home are examples of distributed computing but they are not cluster computing. Here, the computers all work together to accomplish a task, so this is distributed computing. But they are not specifically arranged for this purpose (the arrangement is haphazard and uncoordinated with computers all over the place being randomly added and removed from the set working on the problem), so they are not a cluster and this is not cluster computing.
