"Technology that enables you to create a hot spare. That is a server that is actually running and can take over immediately. This technology enables you to mirror an entire server to another computer." (Owen Williams, "MCSE TestPrep: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation", 1998)
"The use of multiple computers to provide increased reliability, capacity, and management capabilities." (Microsoft Corporation, "SQL Server 7.0 System Administration Training Kit", 1999)
[federated cluster:] "A grouping of SQL servers used together to achieve scalability by employing a distributed partition view. A federated cluster is not used for availability, only for achieving scalability through scale out." (Allan Hirt et al, "Microsoft SQL Server 2000 High Availability", 2004)
"Any collection of distinct computers that are connected and used as a parallel computer, or to form a redundant system for higher availability. The computers in a cluster are not specialized to cluster computing and could, in principle, be used in isolation as standalone computers. In other words, the components making up the cluster, both the computers and the networks connecting them, are not custom-built for use in the cluster." (Beverly A Sanders, "Patterns for Parallel Programming", 2004)
"Connecting two or more computers in such a way that they behave like a single computer to an application or client. Clustering is used for parallel processing, load balancing, and fault tolerance." (Allan Hirt et al, "Microsoft SQL Server 2000 High Availability", 2004)
"A method of keeping database files physically close to one another on the storage media for improving performance through sequential pre-fetch operations." (Paulraj Ponniah, "Data Warehousing Fundamentals for IT Professionals", 2010)
"(1) The condition whereby data is physically ordered contiguously by a specified key (usually implemented by means of an index). (2) The use of multiple, 'independent' computing systems working together to form what appears to users as a single highly available system." (Craig S Mullins, "Database Administration: The Complete Guide to DBA Practices and Procedures" 2nd Ed, 2012)
"The tendency of elements to become unevenly distributed in the hash table, with many adjacent locations containing elements" (Nell Dale et al, "Object-Oriented Data Structures Using Java 4th Ed.", 2016)
