“G”rid is nothing but a term that is there to tell us that there are resources which are scattered at several different locations/pc’s but we are using and maintaining those resources as one. For us its just one thing that we are managing. The basic goal of grid computing is the transparency that should be given to the end user and admin from the complexity of managing lots of resources in different environments. Think it like power which you use in your home. Do you care from which transformer, power house the power is coming?
It could be that your transformer isn’t able to send you so “transparently” from some another one it is requested and is given to you. Did it bother you ever no right? That’s sort of grid is.
If you think about it, its not “totally new” that is from just 10g onwards. Think about RAC in 9i, what is that? You have so many servers acting as the components of one cluster which you manage. What is this? A Grid of servers which are serving you. Think about ASM. What it does, manage 10.000 disks but for you it’s just a single disk group that you manage not 10.000 disks.
So is not a new concept from 10g onwards. Please note that there is no component except GC that you can actually download/buy and install and say hey look this is my grid. It’s a term, a logical term. From 10g onwards, it has got formally introduced in Oracle database systems.
By Aman Sharma – Oracle OTN Forum