Grid Computing vs Cloud Computing
Grid and Cloud are two terms used in computing to refer to two types of resource sharing techniques where multiple computing devices and usually the Internet are involved. Even though cloud computing derives some characteristics from grid computing, they both should not be confused.
Grid Computing
Grid computing is a form of distributed computing where a virtual computing system is compiled by using many loosely connected computing devices to perform a large computing task. They are loosely connected because they can be from multiple administrative realms coupled to effectively combine computing resources to reach a general goal. The goal can typically be a single problem – usually a scientific of technical problem that requires a large amount of processing performed on a huge data set. A renowned example for grid computing in the public domain is the SETI@HOME project where a large number of Internet users share their unused processor cycles to perform a scientific experiment in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Cloud Computing
Cloud is a general term used to refer to the Internet due to the fact that cloud symbol used by drawing tools to represent Internet in computer network diagrams or flowcharts. Cloud computing refers to any computing services provided by hosted systems over the Internet. The service provided can be one of the infrastructure, platform or software services. The salient feature of cloud computing is that the service is fully managed by the service provider (the one hosted the services) and the user needs minimum facilities like a personal computer and the Internet to utilize the service. Due to the fact that the service providers host the services, the services are presented to the users in a simple way where they are not needed to understand how the services are provided. Examples for the services (under software services category) can be anything from web-based emails, Amazon cloud player, human resource management system to enterprise resource planning systems. Examples for cloud computing systems include Amazon Web Service (AWS ) and Google’s Gov Cloud.
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Summary • Grid computing is a form of distributed system where many loosely connected computers are combined targeting to supply computing resources to reach a general goal. • Cloud computing is any computing service managed and provided by a service provider over the Internet.
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