DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM

A distributed system is one in which hardware or software

components located at networked computers communicate
and coordinate their actions only by passing messages
A distributed system is a collection of autonomous
computers linked by a computer network that appear to the
users of the system as a single computer.

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 ARCHITECTURE OF
DISTRIBUTES SYSTEM

Each computer node has its own memory. Examples of Distributed

systems are Internet, Intranet, Mobile and ubiquitous computing.
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 CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSEQUENCES

Concurrency

In a distributed system it is possible that many clients
access the same resource at the same time.
No global clock

The only communication is by sending messages through
a network.
Independent failures

Components running on different computers can fail
without hurting other programs.
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5
ADVANTAGES

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RESOURCES AND COMPONENTS
The terms “resources” and “components” are used to
describe how a distributed system is built up.
These terms are very abstract, but the range of things
that can be connected and shared is very large.

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 IMPORTANT TERMS
Service
 A distinct part of a computer system that manages a collection of
related resources and presents their functionality to users and
applications
 Internet services: http, telnet, pop3...
Server
 A running program (a process) on a networked computer that
accepts requests from programs running on other computers to
perform a service, and responds appropriately
 Internet servers: Apache, Sendmail, WU-ftpd, OpenSSH
Client
 The requesting process 12
 CHALLENGES FOR A DISTRIBUTED
SYSTEM
Heterogeneity
Openness
Security
Scalability
Failure handling
Concurrency
Transparency

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 HETEROGENEITY
Different networks, hardware, operating systems,
programming languages, developers
We set up protocols to solve these heterogeneities
Middleware: a software layer that provides a programming
abstraction as well as masking the heterogeneity. Ex: RMI
Mobile code: code that can be sent from one computer to
another and run at the destination. Ex: Applet

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 OPENNESS
The openness of DS is determined primarily by the degree to
which new resource-sharing services can be added and be
made available for use by a variety of client programs
Open systems are characterized by the fact that their key
interfaces are published
Open DS are based on the provision of a uniform
communication mechanism and published interfaces for
access to shared resources
Open DS can be constructed from heterogeneous hardware
and software
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 SECURITY
Security for information resources has three
components:

Confidentiality: protection against disclosure to
unauthorized individuals. E.g. ACLs (access control
lists) to provide authorized access to information

Integrity: protection against alteration or corruption. E.g.
changing the account number or amount value in a
money order

Availability: protection against interference with the
means to access the resources. E.g. denial of service
(DoS, DDoS) attacks 19
 SCALABILITY
A system is described as scalable if it remains effective
when there is a significant increase in the number of
resources and the number of users
Challenges:

Controlling the cost of resources

Controlling loss of performance

Preventing software resources from running out

Avoiding performance bottlenecks

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FAILURE HANDLING

When faults occur in hardware or software,
programs may produce incorrect results or they may
stop before they have completed the intended
computation

Techniques for dealing with failures:

Detecting failures

Masking failures

Tolerating failures

Recovering from failures

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 CONCURRENCY
There is a possibility that several clients will attempt to
access a shared resource at the same time
Any object that represents a shared resource in a distributed
system must be responsible for ensuring that operates
correctly in a concurrent environment

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 TRANSPARENCY

Transparency is defined as the concealment from the user

and the application programmer of the separation of
components in a distributed system, so that the system is
perceived as a whole rather than as a collection of
independent components.
Transparency means that any form of distributed system
should hide its distributed nature from its users, appearing
and functioning as a normal centralized system.

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 EIGHT FORMS OF
TRANSPARENCY:
Access transparency: Access to local or remote resources is
identical. E.g. Network File System / Dropbox
Location transparency: Access without knowledge of
location E.g. separation of domain name from machine
address.
Concurrency transparency: enables several processes to
operate concurrently using shared resources without
interference between them.
Replication transparency: Access to replicated resources
as if there was just one. And provide enhanced reliability
and performance without knowledge of the replicas by users
or application programmers.
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Failure transparency: Tasks can be completed despite
failures. E.g. message retransmission, failure of a Web
server node should not bring down the website.
Mobility transparency: Allow the movement of
resources and clients within a system without affecting
the operation of users or applications. E.g. switching
from one name server to another at runtime; migration of
an agent/process from one node to another.
Performance transparency: Allows the system to be
reconfigured to improve performance as loads vary. E.g.,
dynamic addition/deletion of components, switching
from linear structures to hierarchical structures when the
number of users increases.

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 SUMMARY
Distributed systems are everywhere
Distributed system is an operating system that manages multiple computer
through networks.
Distributed system serves as a middleware that provides interface for
multiple applications across multiple machines.
Resource sharing is the
main motivating factor for
constructing distribute
systems
The construction of a
distributed system produces
many challenges
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