This presentation gives an overview of the cluster computing area.<P>
We begin by trying to define more precisely the term cluster computing, by pointing the differences (and similarities) with the areas of parallel computing, distributed computing and grid computing.<P>
We continue by describing the hardware of a cluster which is composed by nodes that are built using off-the-shelf hardware. Node interconnection can also use off-the-shelf technology (Fast or Gigabit Ethernet) or more exotic (and expensive) devices (Myrinet, SCI, ...). Finally, we discuss the system software that supports the execution of programs in the cluster. Two subareas where research is being done in CITI - lightweight communication protocols and parallel I/O and file systems - deserve a special mention.<P>
For more information see<P>
IEEE Cluster Computing Task Force page www.csse.monash.edu/~rajkumar/tfcc/ and a white paper on cluster computing in www.dsc.port.ac.uk/~mab/tfcc/WhitePaper/<P>
