Clustering allows shared processing by grouping independent nodes together to work as a single system. A cluster is a loosely coupled group of nodes collaborating to provide shared access to the services that each node hosts. To the other systems, or to the other components of the same system, the cluster appears as a single system.
The objectives of clustering are:
Providing high availability by balancing resource requests.
Ensuring reliability through reduced system failure, by managing failover.
Offering scalability by allowing dynamic addition of resources to improve performance.
Together, a clustered system provides higher availability, increased reliability, and greater scalability than each node can provide independently.
Providing high availability by balancing resource requests.
