Christophe Cerin (Editor), Hai Jin (Editor), «Parallel I/O for Cluster Computing»

Data sets in large applications such as databases and data-mining applications are often too large to fit into a computer’s internal memory. The resulting I/O (input/output) communications between internal memory and the slower external medium (such as disks) can present a major performance bottleneck.

Among the possible computer architectural solutions to this problem are cluster computing platforms, which are collections of non dedicated systems (for example, PCs) based on low cost hardware, and these present themselves as affordable and suitable I/O systems.

The aim of this publication is to present recent theoretical and practical advances that will assist potential new users and more experienced users in having a greater understanding of the subject of I/O management. The first part of the book introduces selected topics and a number of effective solutions in different subtopics of the field. The second part presents five research studies contributed by specialist researchers in the field, located mainly in Europe and the USA.