• Definition: A distributed system includes multiple physically different nodes linked together using the network. All the nodes in this system communicate with each other and control processes in a team. Nodes include a small portion of the distributed operating system software. It connects multiple computers through a single channel. It uses many central processors to serve multiple real-time applications and users. • Types of distributed system ❑ Client/server systems ❑ Peer-to-peer systems ❑ Middleware ❑ Three-tier ❑ N-tier Client/server systems • In client-server systems, the client requests a resource or file and the server fetches that resource. Users and servers usually communicate through a computer network, so they are a part of distributed systems. A client is in contact with just one server. Peer-to-peer systems • The peer-to-peer techniques contain nodes that are equal participants in data sharing. The nodes communicate with each other as needed to share resources. This is done with the help of a network. All the tasks are equally separated between all the nodes. Middleware • Middleware can be thought of as an application that sits between two separate applications and provides service to both. It works as a base for different interoperability applications running on different operating systems. Data can be transferred to other between others by using this service. Three-tier • Three-tier system uses a separate layer and server for each function of a program. In this data of the client is stored in the middle tier rather than sorted into the client system or on their server through which development can be done easily. It includes an Application Layer, Data Layer, and Presentation Layer. This is mostly used in web or online applications. N-tier • N-tier is also called a multitier distributed system. The N-tier system can contain any number of functions in the network. N-tier systems contain similar structures to three-tier architecture. When interoperability sends the request to another application to perform a task or to provide a service. N-tier is commonly used in web applications and data systems. Distributed system goals • Boosting Performance: The distributed system tries to make things faster by dividing a bigger task into small chunks and finally processing them simultaneously in different computers. It’s just like a group of people working together on a project. For example, when we try to search for anything on the internet the search engine distributes the work among several servers and then retrieve the result and display the webpage in a few seconds. • Enhancing Reliability: Distributed system ensures reliability by minimizing the load of individual computer failure. If one computer gets some failure then other computers try to keep the system running smoothly. For Example, when we search for something in social media if one server gets an issue then also we are able to access photos, and posts because they switch the server quickly. • Scaling for the Future: Distributed systems are experts at handling increased demands. They manage the demands by incorporating more and more computers into the system. This way they run everything smoothly and can handle more users. Contd. • Resourceful Utilization: Resource Utilization is one of the most prominent features of a Distributed system. Instead of putting a load on one computer, they distribute the task among the other available resource. This ensures that work will be done by utilizing every resource. • Fault Tolerance and Resilience: Distributed system comes with backup plans. If any computer fails they redirect the task to some other computer ensuring less delay and a smooth experience. • Security and Data Integrity: Distributed system have special codes and lock to protect data from other. They use some renowned techniques for encryption and authentication to keep information safe and unauthorized access. Distributed systems prioritize data security as you keep your secret safe. • Load Balancing: As we know distributed systems ensure good resource utilization and allow the system to handle a high volume of data without getting it slow down, this is achieved by load balancing, in which it evenly distributed load to all the computers available. Thus preventing single-machine overload and preventing bottlenecks. Distributed System Models • Following are different models in distributed system
❑ Physical Model
❑ Architectural Model
❑ Fundamental Model Physical Model • A physical model is basically a representation of the underlying hardware elements of a distributed system. It encompasses the hardware composition of a distributed system in terms of computers and other devices and their interconnections. • It is primarily used to design, manage, implement and determine the performance of a distributed system. A physical model majorly consists of the following components:
❖ Nodes ❖ Links ❖ Middleware ❖ Network Topology ❖ Communication Protocols Architectural Model • Architectural model in a distributed computing system is the overall design and structure of the system, and how its different components are organized to interact with each other and provide the desired functionalities. It is an overview of the system, on how will the development, deployment and operations take place. • The key aspects of the architectural model are ❖ Client-Server model ❖ Peer-to-peer model ❖ Layered model ❖ Micro-services model • In the micro-service model, a complex application or task, is decomposed into multiple independent tasks and these services running on different servers. Each service performs only a single function and is focused on a specific business capability. This makes the overall system more maintainable, scalable, and easier to understand. Fundamental Model • The fundamental model in a distributed computing system is a broad conceptual framework that helps in understanding the key aspects of the distributed systems. These are concerned with more formal description of properties that are generally common in all architectural models. It represents the essential components that are required to understand a distributed system’s behaviour. • Three fundamental models are as follows 1. Interaction Model 2. Remote Procedure Call (RPC) 3. Failure Model 4. Security Model Interaction model • Distributed computing systems are full of many processes interacting with each other in highly complex ways. Interaction model provides a framework to understand the mechanisms and patterns that are used for communication and coordination among various processes. Different components that are important in this model are – • Message Passing – It deals with passing messages that may contain, data, instructions, a service request, or process synchronisation between different computing nodes. It may be synchronous or asynchronous depending on the types of tasks and processes. • Publish/Subscribe Systems – Also known as pub/sub system. In this the publishing process can publish a message over a topic and the processes that are subscribed to that topic can take it up and execute the process for themselves. It is more important in an event-driven architecture. Remote Procedure Call(RPC) • It is a communication paradigm that has an ability to invoke a new process or a method on a remote process as if it were a local procedure call. The client process makes a procedure call using RPC and then the message is passed to the required server process using communication protocols. These message passing protocols are abstracted and the result once obtained from the server process, is sent back to the client process to continue execution. Failure model • This model addresses the faults and failures that occur in the distributed computing system. It provides a framework to identify and rectify the faults that occur or may occur in the system. Fault tolerance mechanisms are implemented so as to handle failures by replication and error detection and recovery methods. Different failures that may occur are: • Crash failures – A process or node unexpectedly stops functioning. • Omission failures – It involves a loss of message, resulting in absence of required communication. • Timing failures – The process deviates from its expected time quantum and may lead to delays or unsynchronised response times. • Byzantine failures – The process may send malicious or unexpected messages that conflict with the set protocols. Security model • Distributed computing systems may suffer malicious attacks, unauthorised access and data breaches. Security model provides a framework for understanding the security requirements, threats, vulnerabilities, and mechanisms to safeguard the system and its resources. Various aspects that are vital in the security model are – • Authentication – It verifies the identity of the users accessing the system. It ensures that only the authorised and trusted entities get access. It involves – • Password-based authentication – Users provide a unique password to prove their identity. • Public-key cryptography – Entities possess a private key and a corresponding public key, allowing verification of their authenticity. • Multi-factor authentication – Multiple factors, such as passwords, biometrics, or security tokens, are used to validate identity. • Encryption – It is the process of transforming data into a format that is unreadable without a decryption key. It protects sensitive information from unauthorized access or disclosure. • Design Issues in distributed model • The following are some of the major design issues of distributed systems 1. Heterogeneity: Heterogeneity is applied to the network, computer hardware, operating system, and implementation of different developers. A key component of the heterogeneous distributed system client-server environment is middleware. Middleware is a set of services that enables applications and end-user to interact with each other across a heterogeneous distributed system. 2. Openness: The openness of the distributed system is determined primarily by the degree to which new resource-sharing services can be made available to the users. Open systems are characterized by the fact that their key interfaces are published. It is based on a uniform communication mechanism and published interface for access to shared resources. It can be constructed from heterogeneous hardware and software. 3. Scalability: The scalability of the system should remain efficient even with a significant increase in the number of users and resources connected. It shouldn’t matter if a program has 10 or 100 nodes; performance shouldn’t vary. A distributed system’s scaling requires consideration of a number of elements, including size, geography, and management. Contd. 4. Security: The security of an information system has three components Confidentially, integrity, and availability. Encryption protects shared resources and keeps sensitive information secrets when transmitted. 5. Failure Handling: When some faults occur in hardware and the software program, it may produce incorrect results or they may stop before they have completed the intended computation so corrective measures should to implemented to handle this case. Failure handling is difficult in distributed systems because the failure is partial i, e, some components fail while others continue to function. 6. Concurrency: There is a possibility that several clients will attempt to access a shared resource at the same time. Multiple users make requests on the same resources, i.e. read, write, and update. Each resource must be safe in a concurrent environment. Any object that represents a shared resource in a distributed system must ensure that it operates correctly in a concurrent environment. 7. Transparency: Transparency ensures that the distributed system should be perceived as a single entity by the users or the application programmers rather than a collection of autonomous systems, which is cooperating. The user should be unaware of where the services are located and the transfer from a local machine to a remote one should be transparent. Communication in distributed system • Message passing is the interaction of exchanging messages between at least two processors. The cycle which is sending the message to one more process is known as the sender and the process which is getting the message is known as the receiver. • In a message-passing system, we can send the message by utilizing send function and we can receive the message by utilizing receive function. Following are the general syntaxes for send function and receive function. Send() Receive() Send (receiver, message) Receive(sender, message)
• Message passing is possible at whatever point the processors are in communication. The communication of a message can be established in distributed in two ways. • Interprocess communication(IPC) • Remote methodology call(RPC)
