Loosely coupled clusters provide what main advantage over tightly coupled clusters?

Loosely coupled clusters offer greater flexibility primarily because they allow each node within the cluster to operate independently. This independence means that individual nodes can be added, removed, or modified without requiring significant changes or downtime to the rest of the cluster. This design is beneficial in cloud environments where scaling resources up or down according to changing demands can be essential for performance and cost-efficiency.

In loosely coupled configurations, the individual components or nodes can use different operating systems, software versions, and hardware configurations, making it easier to adapt to new technologies or requirements. This flexibility is particularly advantageous in environments where application requirements frequently change or evolve and where organizations may want to experiment with new architectures or technologies without substantial risk.

The other options, while relevant to different contexts, do not highlight the primary advantage of loosely coupled clusters. For example, increased security is not inherently a feature of loosely coupled clusters; it is largely dependent on the overall security posture and architecture implemented across the cloud infrastructure. Similarly, reduced latency is more typically associated with tightly coupled clusters, which are designed for high-speed connections between nodes. Enhanced data encryption is a security feature that can be implemented in both loosely and tightly coupled systems, but it does not make one type of cluster inherently better than the other in terms