- Mechanical Solutions: Parallel Computing at the Operating System Level
- Automated Network Routing: Parallel Computing by Predetermined Logic
- Grid Computing: Parallel Computing by Distribution
- Parallel Computing for Business Applications
- The Solution: Software Pipelines
- Fluid Dynamics
- Software Pipelines Example
- Summary
Automated Network Routing: Parallel Computing by Predetermined Logic
In this technique you use some type of predetermined logic to divide application requests. One common approach is round-robin routing, where the system distributes requests evenly, one after the next, among a set of physical computers. Each computer provides exactly the same application functionality. A good example and use case for round-robin is a Web application, in which the system shunts each Web page request to one of several available processors.
Although this approach is useful for certain applications and can be useful as part of a Software Pipelines design, it is also very limited; the router has no logic for determining the best route for a given request, and all downstream processors perform identical tasks. Further, business applications often demand strict “order of processing” requirements, something that simple round-robin logic cannot accommodate.