CH 2 Dist-Computing

Distributed Systems
MSc: Prep. Year
Chapter 2
Distributed Computing
What is Distributed Computing?
• Distributed computing is a science which solves a large

problem by giving small parts of that problem to many
computers to solve and then combining the solutions for
the parts into a solution for the problem.
• Distributed computing have been designed to use the

computers of hundreds of thousands all over the world.
• The computers are connected by any form of

communication network, whether local or wide-area in
the coverage, or via the Internet.
Basic Concepts
• computing a job on a distributed system
—The computing process consists of three phases.
– In Phase I, the master initially investigates the resource

status of the slaves, divides the job into a number of tasks
and distributes the tasks onto the slaves according to the
resources availability.
– In Phase II: All the computers perform computations. Each

computer executes processes allocated by the central
computer while simultaneously executing the necessary local
processes.
– In Phase III: The master computer collects partial results

from the slaves and computes the final result.
Basic Concepts
• Phases of Computing a Job on DS
Basic Concepts
• Timing Diagram of Computing a Job on DS
Distributed Computing Models
• Models of distributed computing can be classified
into five categories:
—Minicomputer model,
—Workstation model,
—Workstation-server model,
—Processor-pool model,
—Hybrid model.
• These models are briefly described in the

following.
Minicomputer Model
• A few minicomputers interconnected by a communication network.
• Several terminals are connected to each minicomputer so multiple
users can simultaneously logged on to it.
• This model is an extension of the centralized time-sharing system.
Minicomputer Model
• Drawbacks of Minicomputer Model:
—Each user is logged on to one specific minicomputer,

with remote access to other minicomputers.
—The processing of tasks are done by the processors

of a single minicomputer.
—This model is very expensive.

Workstation Model
• Several workstations (PCs) interconnected by a high-speed
communication network (LAN).
• Each workstation is equipped with its own disk and serving as
a single-user computer (the WS is called diskfull).
Workstation Model
• Drawbacks of workstation Model:

— A user logs onto one of the workstations called his
or her "home" workstation.
— Several issues must be resolved to distribute tasks

on different WS:
– How does the system find an idle workstation?
– How a process can be transferred from one workstation to
get it executed on another workstation?
– What happens to a remote process if a user logs onto a
workstation that was idle until now and was being used to
execute a process of another workstation?
Workstation Model
• Solution of the problems:

—To handle the first issue, the current master WS asks
each machine for its current sate by sending a
request status and each slave WS should reply by the
current sate.
—To handle the second issue, allocation/scheduling

algorithm should be used to distribute tasks.
—To handle the third issue, three commonly used

approaches are used as follows:
Workstation Model
• Solution of the problems:

— Allow the remote process share the resources of the workstation
along with its own logged-on user's processes. The main
drawbacks of this method are that, if remote processes are
allowed to execute simultaneously with the logged-on user's,
the logged-on user does not get his or her guaranteed
response.
— Kill the remote process. The main drawbacks of this method are
that all processing done for the remote process gets lost and
the file system may be left in an inconsistent state, making this
method unattractive.
— Migrate the remote process back to its home workstation, so
that its execution can be continued there. This method requires
the system to support preemptive process migration facility.
Workstation-Server Model
• A few minicomputers represent servers and several
workstations (most of which are diskless) interconnected by a
communication network.
• Advantages of workstation-server Model:
— It is much cheaper to use a few minicomputers
equipped with large, fast disks that are accessed
over the network than a large number of diskful
workstations, with each workstation having a small,
slow disk.
— Backup and hardware maintenance are easier to
perform with a few large disks than with many small
disks scattered all over a building or campus.
— Installing new releases of software (such as a file
server with new functionalities) is easier when the
software is to be installed on a few file server
machines than on every workstation.
— users have the flexibility to use any workstation and
access the files in the same manner irrespective of which
workstation the user is currently logged on, because all
files are managed by the file servers.
— A user has guaranteed response time because
workstations are not used for executing remote processes.
• Drawbacks of Minicomputer Model:

—this model does not utilize the processing capability
of idle workstations.
Processor-Pool Model
• The pool of processors consists of a large number of
microcomputers and minicomputers attached to the network.
• Each processor in the pool has its own memory to load and
run a system program or an application program of the
distributed computing system.
Processor-Pool Model
• Unlike the workstation-server model in which a processor is
allocated to each user, in the processor pool model the
processors are pooled together to be shared by the users as
needed.
• Advantages:
—The entire processing power of the system is
available for use by the currently logged-on users.
—The system's services can be easily expanded without
the need to install any more computers.
Hybrid Model
• A hybrid model combines the advantages of both the

workstation-server and processor-pool models. This model is
based on the workstation-server model but with the addition
of a pool of processors. The processors in the pool can be
allocated dynamically for computations that are too large for
workstations or that requires several computers concurrently
for efficient execution.
• The hybrid model gives guaranteed response to interactive
jobs by allowing them to be processed on local workstations
of the users.
• The hybrid model is more expensive to implement
than the workstation-server model or the processor-
pool model.
• Title
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Distributed Systems

MSc: Prep. Year

• Distributed computing is a science which solves a large

• Distributed computing have been designed to use the

• The computers are connected by any form of

– In Phase I, the master initially investigates the resource

– In Phase II: All the computers perform computations. Each

– In Phase III: The master computer collects partial results

• These models are briefly described in the

• Drawbacks of Minicomputer Model:

—Each user is logged on to one specific minicomputer,

—The processing of tasks are done by the processors

—This model is very expensive.

• Drawbacks of workstation Model:

— Several issues must be resolved to distribute tasks

• Solution of the problems:

—To handle the second issue, allocation/scheduling

—To handle the third issue, three commonly used

• Solution of the problems:

• Drawbacks of Minicomputer Model:

• A hybrid model combines the advantages of both the

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