Take the 2-minute tour ×  As sysadmins, we are constantly forced
to convey complex technical terms and situations to the layman
or beginner. I was just wondering what metaphors each of you may
have devised to describe things we may see every day.  For
instance, remember the infamous water-cooler raid diagram? alt
text  I was hoping to have one topic or term in each answer
along with it's corresponding metaphor in layman's terms.
share|improve this question The second one isn't a cluster, it's
load balancing. –  Massimo Aug 17 '10 at 13:36 So what would the
difference between a load balancing and a cluster be? Seems like
a 2-node cluster can load balance? –  JamesBarnett Dec 29 '10 at
1:20  11 Answers 11  up vote 8 down vote accepted  I once used
an analogy to explain how RAM is defective to a customer of
mine. I started at normal voice level repeating ones and zeroes,
then after a few seconds I threw a "TWO!" loudly in there. I
then explained that their reaction was how Windows XP/Vista/7
reacts: It freaks o