A computer cluster by definition is a set of computers which are either loosely or tightly connected for them to work together so that, in many times, they can be perceived as a single system. Computer cluster came into emergence due to the convergence of a certain number of computing trends with an inclusive of high speed networks, and software for a high-performance and also the microprocessors of low cost distributed computing. The clustered computers usually have a wide range of deployment and also applicability, with a range from the small business clusters which have a handful of nodes to the supercomputers which are termed as the fastest in the world, for example, the IBM’s Sequoia. Computer clusters are capable of performing a similar task, scheduled and also controlled by the software, due to the presence of the node set. The computers are usually connected through a local area network (LAN). Computer clustering mostly, it relies on a management which is centralized in approach and it makes the nodes to be available like servers which are orchestrate-shared. The centralized management approach is different from the other approaches like the grid computing and also the peer to peer approach because they make use of many nodes, though with a more distributed nature.
Clustering of computers is of much importance in businesses, this is because, the clustered computers are able to function in a way that is fault tolerant and they can share work among the computers themselves. Therefore, in case of the breakdown or other malfunctioning of the server when It comes to provision of services, other servers in the cluster can go on with the task. Computer clustering can be put in place to advance the performance as well as the availability as compared to that of single computers, while typically they are being cost-effective than a single computer of the same availability and speed. The clustered computers can also share the central processing units (CPU-s), devices, memories as well as the networks (Davenport, 2013) . All of the computers can do it in a parallel manner, in a way that is fault tolerant and this is why they are mostly used in places commonly known as mission critical, for instance, in telecoms and stock exchanges.
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On the other side, clustering of computers also have its own disadvantages or other challenges. For instance, computer clustering can also be not cost effective. The cluster requires an excellent design and a hardware, which will be of high cost as compared to a non-clustered server management design which does not necessarily need to have a good hardware and a design. Since clustering of computers demands for a lot of the servers and hardware to start only one cluster, its maintenance and also monitoring maybe a bot tough (Davenport, 2013) . Thus, there will need for an increase in infrastructure, which in turn, leads to an extra cost again. Computer clustering can be applied in data mining, that is, making use of a computer to analyze a huge amount of data, with an intention of getting knowledge and relationship as well, that are of great importance and they are too difficult to be searched manually, hence making data processing to be an easy task.
Computer clustering can as well be applied in file server, which is a computer that is attached to network that gives the location to the shared disk access, that is, the storage of computer files such as image, sound, video and text which are shared. These files can be obtained by the workstations which are able to get in touch with the computers that is capable of sharing the access via a computer network. A fileserver as also defined in computing is kind of device which is usually used in controlling the access to files which are stored separately, as a part of multi-user system. A fileserver is mostly designed in a manner that its main function is to store and retrieve data whereas the computing is being carried out by the workstations. There are high chances that the file server will be of high availability simply because they are of great importance and therefore they are mostly needed by even institutions, hospitals, offices and utmost business organizations whereby the users make use of local area network to connect their client computers (Krishnappa & Prasad, 2011)
The fileserver give permission to the users for them to share information throughout the network without having to transfer the files physically by use of floppy diskette or the other external storage devices. The fileservers make the work easier and also enable easy management and supervision of work. However, a fileserver does not do the computations tasks or else run programs of its clients, but this might be possible in future due to the advanced technology and the increased need of fileservers, which will lead to their increase in terms of availability. Any personal computer (PC) is capable of becoming a fileserver as well as host because, in its simplest form, a fileserver can be just a PC which handles the requests for different files and sends them over the network. Sometimes, fileserver acts as a committed network-attached storage machine in that, it can also serve like a remote drive for the hard disks of other devices, or other computers, hence permitting anyone who is in the network to store their files in it as if it in their own hard drive. The fileserver is a commodity-off-the-shelf (COTS) computer because it is connected to a local area network technology and its running of programs is optimized for parallel processing.
References
Davenport, T. H. (2013). Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology . Harvard Business Press.
Krishnappa, N., & Prasad, S. (2011). U.S. Patent Application No. 12/427,615 .
