Server technology minicomputer and cluster server simple comparison

The cluster server uses a standard network to connect various ordinary servers to provide users with higher system computing performance, storage performance and management performance through specific methods. A computer system that provides users with a single system image function. It is generally composed of nodes, networks, storage, management and monitoring systems, cluster software, and cluster-bearing systems. For example, domestic Dawning and Lenovo are important manufacturers of cluster servers. Of course, international manufacturers also have related products.

The design of the cluster server has certain differences depending on the application. Currently, cluster servers have two major application areas, high-performance computing and information services. We divide the fleet into two categories, high-performance computer clusters and information service clusters, depending on the application area.

(1) High Performance Computing (HighPerfermanceComputing) cluster, referred to as HPC cluster. This type of aircraft mainly solves the calculation of large-scale scientific problems and the processing of massive data, such as scientific research, weather forecasting, computational simulation, military research, CFD/CAE, biopharmaceuticals, gene sequencing, image processing, and so on.

(2) The information service cluster has a wide range of applications, including data centers, e-government, e-libraries, large and medium-sized websites, online games, financial telecommunications services, metropolitan area networks/campus networks. , large mail systems, VOD, management information systems, and more. In terms of its implementation, it can also be divided into load balancing clusters, high availability clusters, and so on.

Compared with the traditional RISC minicomputer or the ordinary PC server group, the advantages of the cluster are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Higher performance price ratio : The cluster system has become the development direction of high-performance computers. The world's top500 high-performance computer systems are mostly cluster systems.

Higher scalability: The cluster system can be seamlessly extended through the original reserved extension interface.

Higher system robustness (robust or robust): The fleet system is equipped with standard hardware and is easy to source. It is also easier to maintain.

There are more manufacturers to support: Many domestic manufacturers support fleet systems, and foreign manufacturers also produce fleet systems.

More support for application systems: The cluster system can support a large number of operating systems and can support multiple operating systems at the same time. It also supports 32-bit and 64-bit software systems in the cluster system. The software running on it is hundreds of times more than a minicomputer system.