What is meant by grid computing?

            

Grid computing is the use of widely distributed computer resources to reach a common goal. A computing grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve many files. Grid computing is distinguished from conventional high-performance computing systems such as cluster computing in that grid computers have each node set to perform a different task/application. Grid computers also tend to be more heterogeneous and geographically dispersed (thus not physically coupled) than cluster computers. Although a single grid can be dedicated to a particular application, commonly a grid is used for a variety of purposes. Grids are often constructed with general-purpose grid middleware software libraries. Grid sizes can be quite large.

Grids are a form of distributed computing whereby a "super virtual computer" is composed of many networked loosely coupled computers acting together to perform large tasks. For certain applications, distributed or grid computing can be seen as a special type of parallel computing that relies on complete computers (with onboard CPUs, storage, power supplies, network interfaces, etc.) connected to a computer network (private or public) by a conventional network interface, such as Ethernet. This is in contrast to the traditional notion of a supercomputer, which has many processors connected by a local high-speed computer bus.

Grid computing is a processor architecture that combines computer resources from various domains to reach the main objective. In grid computing, the computers on the network can work on a task together, thus functioning as a supercomputer. Typically, a grid works on various tasks within a network, but it is also capable of working on specialized applications. It is designed to solve problems that are too big for a supercomputer while maintaining the flexibility to process numerous smaller problems. Computing grids deliver a multiuser infrastructure that accommodates the discontinuous demands of large information processing.

A grid is connected by parallel nodes that form a computer cluster, which runs on an operating system, Linux or free software. The cluster can vary in size from a small work station to several networks. The technology is applied to a wide range of applications, such as mathematical, scientific, or educational tasks through several computing resources. It is often used in structural analysis, Web services such as ATM banking, back-office infrastructures, and scientific or marketing research. The idea of grid computing was first established in the early 1990s by Carl Kesselman, Ian Foster, and Steve Tuecke. They developed the Globus Toolkit standard, which included grids for data storage management, data processing, and intensive computation management.

Grid computing is made up of applications used for computational computer problems that are connected in a parallel networking environment. It connects each PC and combines information to form one application that is computation-intensive. Grids have a variety of resources based on diverse software and hardware structures, computer languages, and frameworks, either in a network or by using open standards with specific guidelines to achieve a common goal.

Grid computing combines computers from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal, to solve a single task, and may then disappear just as quickly. The size of a grid may vary from small confined to a network of computer workstations within a corporation, for example to large, public collaborations across many companies and networks. "The notion of a confined grid may also be known as intra-nodes cooperation whereas the notion of a larger, wider grid may thus refer to inter-nodes cooperation".

Grids are a form of distributed computing whereby a “super virtual computer” is composed of many networked loosely coupled computers acting together to perform very large tasks. This technology has been applied to computationally intensive scientific, mathematical, and academic problems through volunteer computing, and it is used in commercial enterprises for such diverse applications as drug discovery, economic forecasting, seismic analysis, and back-office

data processing in support of e-commerce and Web services. Coordinating applications on Grids can be a complex task, especially when coordinating the flow of information across distributed computing resources. Grid workflow systems have been developed as a specialized form of a workflow management system designed specifically to compose and execute a series of computational or data manipulation steps, or a workflow, in the grid context.