What is the dIfference between a distributed system and a clustered system?

Question

Both are defined to be a set of computers that work together and give the end users a perception of a single computer running behind it.

So what is the difference here?

Solution

What is the difference between a car and a sports car? A cluster is a system, usually managed by a single company. Clusters have normally a very low latency and consist of server hardware. A distributed system can be anything. Having JS on the client and PHP-server code which makes up together a system is already called a distributed system by some people.

In general when working with distributed systems you work a lot with long latencies and unexpected failures (like mentioned in p2p systems). When building a cluster (or a big cluster which can be called supercomputer) you try to prevent it by using more robust hardware and better network interconnection (InfiniBand). But nevertheless, a cluster is still a distributed system. (A sports car still has 4 wheels and an engine)

Comments

[bereal]

As far as I understand, a cluster is usually a distributed system which is managed as a single unit within the same local network. Unlike, e.g., globally distributed or P2P systems.

[bereal]

(That said, this is rather a question for serverfault).