During this unit, I was introduced to the very basics and terminologies of grid computing and the different components that combine to create a grid system. I realized that a grid is a set of computers or also known as nodes or resources that are linked with one another to share various categories of resources including computation, storage, communication, and software
I got to know that computation is among the primary resources in a grid where various machines give their processors that enable computing services. This assists in enhancement of performance and minimizing of time taken in executing activities. Another thing that I got to know concerned the concept of scalability, which demonstrates the efficiency with which a grid can utilize several processors to enhance performance.
Also I was made aware of the concept of storage in grid computing whereby storage capacity of multiple machines is brought together to enhance capacity and performance. I also realised that distributed file systems and data stripping methods are useful in enhancing data access speed and reliability. I also came to know that communication is extremely essential in a grid since it enables machine to transmit jobs and transmit data and network bandwidth is required to facilitate smooth running.
One more valuable point that I studied is concerning jobs and applications. I learned that, applications are segregated into jobs and jobs are planned and executed on various machines in the grid. I also got to know how scheduling can be used to allocate jobs to the right machines, reservation enables resources to be booked early and scavenging enables idle machines to be utilized without interfering with the intended users.
Lastly, I got to know about various kinds of grids including intragrid and intergrid. I came to realize that there is an intragrid and intergrid where several organizations are linked together to share the resources and cooperate with each other.
i also got to know that correct management, schedule and security becomes critical as the grids increase.