How Grid Computing Works?

Grid computing offers a model for solving massive computational problems by making use of the unused resources (CPU cycles and/or disk storage) of large numbers of disparate computers, often desktop computers, treated as a virtual cluster embedded in a distributed telecommunications infrastructure. Grid computing’s focus on the ability to support computation across administrative domains sets it apart from traditional computer clusters or traditional distributed computing.

Grids offer a way to solve problems like protein folding, financial modelling, earthquake simulation, and climate/weather modeling. Grids offer a way of using the information technology resources optimally inside an organization. They also provide a means for offering information technology as a utility bureau for commercial and non-commercial clients, with those clients paying only for what they use, as with electricity or water.

Grid computing can solve problems which are too big for any single supercomputer, whilst retaining the flexibility to work on multiple smaller problems. Thus Grid computing provides a multi-user environment which uses secure authorization techniques to allow remote users to control computing resources.
Grid computing involves sharing heterogeneous resources (based on different platforms, hardware/software architectures), located in different places belonging to different administrative domains over a network using open standards. In short, it involves virtualizing computing resources.

Grid computing is often confused with cluster computing. The key difference is that a cluster is a single set of nodes sitting in one location, while a Grid is composed of many clusters and other kinds of resources (e.g. networks, storage facilities).

Grid computing environment is created to address resource needs. The use of that resource(s) (eg. CPU cycles, disk storage, data, software programs, peripherals) is usually characterized by its availability outside of the context of the local administrative domain.

One characteristic that currently distinguishes Grid computing from distributed computing is the abstraction of a ‘distributed resource’ into a Grid resource. One result of abstraction is that it allows resource substitution to be more easily accomplished. Some of the overhead associated with this flexibility is reflected in the middleware layer and the temporal latency associated with the access of a Grid (or any distributed) resource. This overhead, especially the temporal latency, must be evaluated in terms of the impact on computational performance when a Grid resource is employed

Web standards make it work

In grid computing, resources can be dynamically allocated to users or applications that need them. Resources can be shared within a workgroup, department or enterprise; among different organizations and geographies; and even with groups outside the enterprise in collaborative projects. Grids can be designed to support various business processes. Grid technologies use emerging Web services standards such as XML, SOAP and WSDL.