Server Farm is a collection of computer servers in order to run special applications for specific purposes. Server farms consist of multiple servers those count can be 100s even 1000s. Server farm’s main advantage is processing data in a very fast and distributed way and solving the given problem in less time.
Companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon creates server farms for their services or internal usage. For example, Google has different servers farms those contains 10,000 servers.
Server Farm or Server Cluster or Cluster Computing or Web Farm
Before starting to talk about the Server Farm we need to make clear some definitions related to it. Server Farm and Server Cluster are the most known definition for this type of application but also Server Cluster term can be also used interchangeably. Also, Web Farm term can be used web-specific server farms which methodology is similar.
How To Create Server Farm?
Server farms are created by using multiple physical servers and network devices. Server farms generally located inside Data Centers. Data Center or Data Center environment is required for creating a server farm because running a lot of servers at the same time would require some special environments. Server farms generally created using physical servers but in some cases, virtual servers can be also used.
Servers are the main part of a server farm where a lot of servers will be used. If the servers are physical it would be better using the same brand and model to run servers and troubleshoot problems. Also, the operating system should be the same for deployment and execution.
Network is another important part of the server farm where big number of servers will be connected to each other through the network. Network devices should be reliable, high performance.
Cooling is important for the server farm because running them at the same time in the same environment will create a lot of heat and cooling should set up properly.
Power is another important part where running a lot of servers will require a huge and reliable power consumption.
Server Farm Advantages
As a big processing power server farms provides a lot of advantages for IT cases, applications.
High Processing Power is the most important and crucial benefit of the server farms. Today real-world problems require high processing power to solve them. This processing power can be created using a CPU or GPU.
Reliable Computing Environment is another big advantage of the server farms because a server farm contains a lot of servers. Even a single or multiple servers fails other servers can continue to work and process the given job or application.
Fast Problem Solving by using high processing power a server farm can be used to solve problems in a fast way. Think about a single server that can solve a problem or run an application to complete it for 100 hours. If we use a server farm that contains 100 servers this problem can be solved or application can be completed in one hour with the help of the server farm.
Server Farm Use Cases
Do every one needs a server farm? Absolutely No. So when should be a server farm used or in which cases the server farm usage will be proper even profitable.
3D or Animations are one of the most popular use cases for server farms. Movie production companies use server farms in order to create animation and 3d movies. This type of server farms generally uses GPU power in order to process graphics and 3d shapes and objects.
Biology and Gen Reasearch is another server farm application area where different biology and gen topics are simulated inside the server farms with specially created applications.
Weather Forecasting is interestingly another server farm use case where different types of weather data are provided the server farm application for probability and calculations which will end precise weather forecast results.