| title | status | category | tags | |||
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Cluster |
Completed |
Concept |
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A cluster is a group of computers or applications that work together towards a common goal. In the context of cloud native computing, the term is most often applied to Kubernetes. A Kubernetes cluster is a set of services (or workloads) that run in their own containers, usually on different machines. The collection of all these containerized services, connected over a network, represent a cluster.
Software that runs on a single computer presents a single point of failure — if that computer crashes, or someone accidentally unplugs the power cable, then some business-critical system may be taken offline. That's why modern software is generally built as distributed applications, grouped together as clusters.
Clustered, distributed applications run across multiple machines, eliminating a single point of failure. But building distributed systems is really hard. In fact, it's a computer science discipline in its own right. The need for global systems and years of trial and error led to the development of a new kind of tech stack: cloud native technologies. These new technologies are the building blocks that make the operation and creation of distributed systems easier.