[Beowulf] Confused over the term cluster

[Mark Hahn]

> I would call a cluster with 32 nodes and 8 cores in each node a 32 node, 256 
> CPU cluster.

yes, definitely.  node implies a boundary of memory addressing: after all,
it's a cluster because we need to use distributed-memory programming 
techniques like MPI to harness it.  often nodes that have more cores 
are called "fat nodes".

>> I am kinda confused with term cluster and now am sure if this where I can
>> post my question. What exactly can be defined as a cluster ?, We have a 32
>> node cluster in our lab. and the number 32 here is referred to 32 separate
>> machines ( each with its own processor ). What about the new machines
>> like,
>> dual core processors or the quad core processors, are those considered
>> clusters also. For example, should we refer to a quad core processor as a
>> cluster of 4 processors. Hope someone out there could explain. Thanks