08-09-2014, 12:59 AM
The massive jumps in technology led to the expansion of internet as the most accepted medium for communication. But one of the most prominent problems with this client server based technology is that of maintaining a regular connection.Even if a sole intermediate node breaks down, the entire system crumples. The solution to this problem can be the use of clustering.Clustering means linking together two or more systems to manage erratic workloads or to offer unremitting operation in the event one fails . Clustering technology suggests an approach to augment general reliability and performance. One implementation done for this was RAIN-Reliable Array Of Independent Nodes developed by the California Institute of Technology, in collaboration with NASA‟s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The technology is implemented in a distributed computing architecture, built with inexpensive off-the-shelf components. The RAIN platform involves heterogeneous cluster of nodes linked using many interfaces to networks configured in fault-tolerant topologies. RAIN technology was capable of providing the solution by reducing the number of nodes in the chain linking the client and server in addition to making the current nodes more robust and more autonomous.