Clustered Operating System

Clustered Operating Systems work similarly to Parallel Operating Systems as they have many CPUs. Cluster systems are created when two or more computer systems are merged. Basically, they have an independent computer but have common storage and the systems work together.

Diagram for better understanding:

For making cluster more efficient there exist two clusters:

• Hardware Cluster
• Software Cluster

Hardware Cluster helps in enable high-performance disk sharing between systems, while the Software Cluster allows all systems to work together.

Types of Cluster Systems:

Primarily, there are two types of Cluster Systems:

• Asymmetric Cluster: In this type of clustering, all the nodes run the required applications, and one node is in hot standby mode. The Hot standby node is used for monitoring the server till it fails, when it fails then it takes its place.
• Symmetric Cluster: In this type of clustering, all the nodes run applications and monitor other nodes at the same time. This clustering is more efficient than Asymmetric clustering as it doesn’t have any hot standby key.

Classification of Clustered Systems:

• Load Balancing Clusters: In this type of cluster, the nodes share the workload for load balancing in the system and for providing better performance.
• High Availability: Also known as HA clusters or failover clusters, To make more efficient and make the availability of the clustered system, extra nodes are present in the cluster. These extra nodes are used whenever any of the existing nodes fails.

Benefits of Clustered Systems:

• High Performance as they contain two or more computers merged together.
• Increased Fault Tolerance as loss of one node doesn’t result in the loss of the system.
• High Scalability as it is easy to add a new node to the system.