Architecture Comparison

SMP SUPERCOMPUTER

INKTOMI COUPLED CLUSTER

ARCHITECTURE

Database stored and

processed on one machine

(ABCDEFG)

Database is distributed

across the cluster (ABC,

DEF, GHI...)

SCALABILITY

Fixed capacity

Absolute and incremental

scalability (flexible, tunable)

PRICE /PERFORMANCE

Expensive; expansion

requires costly replication

Superior price/performance

(commodity hardware)

FAULT TOLERANCE

Good only with multiple

replicated SMPs

Fault-tolerant

...