In Search of Clusters (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A disturbingly interesting read .....
Review: While struggling through this book, I spend more time thinking about the characters of this author than about cluster. He has this unique style of telling a subject like a friend telling you a story and it goes like : I am going to tell you this .. but first let me explain why I tell you this .. and now I want to tell you how I am going to tell you this .. and finally this is this, believe you me .. OK, truth is - I lied, it is actually this ... and on and on. He successfully made "this" simple and understandable to a certain degree, but the "how I, why I" portion mix with some high IQ humours did confuse me no end - though it is fun. I find that at some stage I have to use a finger to point to a key sentence and said " OK, Pfister is going to tell me this - lets see how" - then at some stage I will have to judge whether he has finished what he promised and is already on to new stuff. And, he does choose some words that I suspect is more often used in classical literature - rococco, dischotomies, litany, etc - which although harmlessly infrequent, does add some irritation to the already burden mind. All things considered, going through this book is fun. In case you are one of those like me that is quite lost and struggle a fair bit, I did find chapter 6 fairly readable - so perhpas you want to starts from there and work backward/forward if other chapters frustrated you a fair bit.

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive Cluster Coverage
Review: With the advent of the Clustering Technology Formerly Known as Wolfpack, clustering has entered the computing mainstream. As a contributor to several white papers and studies on the subject, Shannon Knows DEC is no stranger to clustering technology. Nevertheless, while plenty has been written about clustering, vendor-specific collateral and trade press articles leave a great deal to be desired. Until now, customers seeking in-depth knowledge of modestly parallel computing have been unable to turn to a comprehensive information source. In an effort to cater to prospective adopters of Microsoft Cluster Server or NUMA-based systems, IBM engineer and cluster guru Greg Pfister recently published In Search of Clusters, Second Edition. In this 550-page book, Pfister manages to render a variety of complex technical issues understandable to those of us who do not possess a degree in computer science. The author makes ample use of analogies (including the now-famous "pack of dogs" example from which the Wolfpack sobriquet was derived) to point out the differences between parallel, cluster, and distributed systems, and to help his readers make sense of acronyms such as SMP, MPP, and NUMA. Technically oriented readers will appreciate the fact that Pfister reviews various clustering implementations-and the strengths and weaknesses of each offering-in great detail. The book hardly qualifies as light reading, but if you can understand SKD, you'll have no problem getting your money's worth from Greg's tutorial. In Search of Clusters, Second Edition (ISBN 0-13-899709-8) is available from AMAZON.COM. If you're contemplating the purchase of a clustered system, or if you're looking for insightful coverage of this evolving technology, In Search of Clusters definitely belongs on your bookshelf. Terry Shannon Publisher, Shannon Knows DEC

Rating:
Summary: exceptional
Review: Witty, lucid, practical, clear, superlatives fail this book. Excellent intro to Clusters