Is SETI an example of grid computing or is it a beowulf cluster?

[erwin1978]

Is SETI an example of grid computing or is it a beowulf cluster? Is there a difference between the two? From what I've read there's really not much difference.

 

[Spacehead]

From the little that i know, i believe that in a true beowulf cluster each computer works on the same problem, or work unit if you will, at the same time. It would be like if every S@H user was working on the same work unit all at once, then moving on to the next when that's done.
In S@H, or DC in gerneral, everyone's working on different work units.

Another way S@H isn't like a beowulf cluster is that even though we're all working on the same project my computer isn't connected in any way to other 500,000 or so other active users computers.




To be quite honest, i'm not sure of the difference between grid computing & distributed computing.

 

[Assimilator1]

Me neither ,what's grid computing?

 

[Ken g6]

Aha! I knew my high performance supercomputing class would be good for something!

Distributed Computing is a very general term. It just means a problem is distributed over multiple CPUs.

High performance supercomputing (HPSC) has usually been done in the past on a shared-memory machine. That's like a Cray, or Silicon Graphics supercomputer.

But recently, HPSC is being done more and more in a cluster computing environment. This means the CPUs have separate memories, and are generally separate systems, but they have a high-speed link between and among themselves. This is a Beowulf cluster.

SETI@Home is a type of grid computing. Computers are widely spaced, and don't have a dedicated system to cooperate in real time. Comptuers are assigned work that they can take awhile to complete on their own, and then return. In contrast, cluster computing usually involves all the systems working together and sharing data in real time.

But it's true, the lines are blurring on this. As more people and companies get high-speed internet, grid computing is getting closer to cluster computing. This new CERN grid, for instance, looks like it's very close to a giant cluster.