CS 407 Distributed System & Databases

WEEK # 4 - RESOURCE SHARING IN DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

DAY # 10

Benefits of resource sharing:

 Resource:
o hardware - disks and printers
o software - files, windows, and data objects
 Hardware sharing for:
o convenience
o reduction of cost
 Data sharing for:
o consistency - compilers and libraries
o exchange of information - database
o cooperative work - groupware

Resource Manager
 Software module that manages a set of resources.
 Each resource requires its own management policies and methods.
 Client server model - server processes act as resource managers for a set of resources and a set of
clients.

Service
 We use the term service for a distinct part of a computer system that manages a collection of
related resources and presents their functionality to users and applications.
 For example, we access shared files through a file service; we send documents to printers through
a printing service; we buy goods through an electronic payment service.
 The only access we have to the service is via the set of operations that it exports. For example, a
file service provides read, write and delete operations on files.

Server

 The term server is probably familiar to most readers. It refers to 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.

Engr. Muhammad Nadeem Page 1

 The requesting processes are referred to as clients, and the overall approach is known as client-
server computing.
 In this approach, requests are sent in messages from clients to a server and replies are sent in
messages from the server to the clients. When the client sends a request for an operation to be
carried out, we say that the client invokes an operation upon the server.
 A complete interaction between a client and a server, from the point when the client sends its
request to when it receives the server’s response, is called a remote invocation.
 An executing web browser is an example of a client. The web browser communicates with a web
server, to request web pages from it.

WEEK # 4 - RESOURCE SHARING IN DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

DAY # 11

Question:

Give five types of hardware resource and five types of data or software resource that can usefully be
shared. Give examples of their sharing as it occurs in distributed systems?

Answer:

Hardware:

CPU: compute server (executes processor-intensive applications for clients), remote object server
(executes methods on behalf of clients), worm program (shares cpu capacity of desktop machine with the
local user). Most other servers, such as file servers, do some computation for their clients, hence their cpu
is a shared resource.

memory: cache server (holds recently-accessed web pages in its RAM, for faster access by other local
computers) disk: file server, virtual disk server, video on demand server.

screen: Network window systems, such as X-11, allow processes in remote computers to update the
content of windows.

printer: networked printers accept print jobs from many computers. managing them with a queuing
system.

network capacity: packet transmission enables many simultaneous communication channels (streams of
data) to be transmitted on the same circuits.

Data/software:

Engr. Muhammad Nadeem Page 2

web page: web servers enable multiple clients to share read-only page content (usually stored in a file,
but sometimes generated on-the-fly).

file: file servers enable multiple clients to share read-write files. Conflicting updates may result in
inconsistent results. Most useful for files that change infrequently, such as software binaries.

object: possibilities for software objects are limitless. E.g. shared whiteboard, shared diary, room booking
system, etc.

database: databases are intended to record the definitive state of some related sets of data. They have
been shared ever since multi-user computers appeared. They include techniques to manage concurrent
updates.

newsgroup content: The netnews system makes read-only copies of the recently-posted news items
available to clients throughout the Internet. A copy of newsgroup content is maintained at each netnews
server that is an approximate replica of those at other servers. Each server makes its data available to
multiple clients.

video/audio stream: Servers can store entire videos on disk and deliver them at playback speed to
multiple clients simultaneously.

exclusive lock: a system-level object provided by a lock server, enabling several clients to coordinate their
use of a resource (such as printer that does not include a queuing scheme).

WEEK # 4 - TRENDS IN DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

DAY # 12

Lab - Client Server Multithreaded Application

Engr. Muhammad Nadeem Page 3