The hubbub about NT clustering has lit a fire under Unix vendors to improve their clustering products. After a few years of relative inactivity, Unix vendors are touting enhancements that should keep Unix clusters a few steps ahead of NT clusters. All Unix cluster vendors are working to increase the number of nodes they can support. For example, IBM plans to support 32-node RS/6000 clusters by mid-year 1997. Most cluster vendors allow buyers to mix and match symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) servers and uniprocessors in the same cluster. Some vendors - such as IBM, NCR, and Pyramid - allow buyers to scale from uniprocessors to SMP to clusters to massively parallel processing architectures. Manageability is one area in which all of the major Unix vendors are trying to differentiate their clustering software. Most have cluster management software that presents the cluster in the form of a map. Cluster file systems are emerging that may improve manageability. Vendors are also trying to differentiate their clusters by the interconnect used to link nodes.
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