CHAPTER ONE

Introduction to Distributed system

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 Introduction
 1. “A distributed system is a collection of independent
computers that appears to its users as a single
coherent system.”Andrew S. Tanenbaum
 a distributed system consists of components that are
autonomous (i.e. autonomous computers).
 users think they are dealing with a single system

 Establishing this collaboration lies at the heart of

developing distributed systems.
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 2. “A distributed system is a system in which hardware or
software components located at networked computers
communicate and coordinate their actions only by
passing messages.” Koulouris, et al
 From this definition, distributed systems characteristics by:

 Concurrency: In a network of computers, concurrent

program execution is a norm. I can do my work on my

computer while you do your work on yours, sharing
resources such as web pages or files when necessary.
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 No global clock: When programs need to cooperate,
they coordinate their actions by exchanging messages.
Close coordination often depends on a shared idea of the
time at which the programs’ actions occur.
 But it turns out that there are limits to the accuracy with
which the computers in a network can synchronize their
clocks . There is no single global notion of the correct
time
 This is a direct consequence of the fact that the only
communication is by sending messages through a
network.

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Independent failures: Faults in the network result in the
isolation of the computers that are connected to it, but that
doesn’t mean that they stop running.
Each component of the system can fail independently, leaving
the others still running.
 In order to support heterogeneous computers and networks
while offering a single system view, distributed systems are
often organized by means of a layer of software that is,
logically placed between a higher-level layer consisting of
users and applications, and a layer underneath consisting
of operating systems and basic communication facilities
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 four networked computers and three applications, of which application
B is distributed across computers 2 and 3. Each application is offered
the same interface.
 Note that the middleware layer extends over multiple machines, and
offers each application the same interface

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 Challenges and Problems in Distribution

 Heterogeneity: Users access services and run

applications over a heterogeneous collection of
computers and networks. Heterogeneity applies networks,
computer hardware, operating systems, programming
languages, implementations by different developers.
 Openness: new resource sharing services can be added
and be made available for use by a variety of client
programs.

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 Security: Security for information resources has three
components: confidentiality (protection against
disclosure to unauthorized individuals), integrity
(protection against alteration or corruption), and
availability (protection against interference with the
means to access the resources).
 Scalable: A scalable distributed system remains
effective when there is a significant increase in the
number of resources and the number of users.
 Failure handling: Failures in a distributed system are
partial. Therefore the handling of failures is particularly
difficult like detecting failures, masking failures,
tolerating failures and recovery from failures.

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 Concurrency: There is a possibility that several clients
can access a shared resource at the same time. These
multiple requests may conflict with one another and
produce inconsistent results.
 Transparency: Transparency is defined as the
concealment from the user and the application
programmer of the separation of components in a
distributed system
 The system is perceived as a whole rather than as a
collection of independent components. The implications
of transparency are a major influence on the design of
the system software.
 Quality of service: Once users are provided with the
functionality that they require of a service, such as the file
service in a distributed system, we can go on to ask
about the quality of the service provided.
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Goals of Distributed System
Making Resources Accessible
 The main goal of a distributed system is to make it easy
for the users to access remote resources, and to share
them in a controlled and efficient way.
Distribution Transparency
A distributed system that is able to present itself to users
and applications as if it were only a single computer
system is said to be transparent.

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 The concept of transparency can be applied to
several aspects of a distributed system
Transparency Description

Access Hide differences in data representation and how a resource is

accessed.
Location Hide where a resource is physically located.

Migration Hide that a resource may move to another location.

Relocation Hide that a resource may be moved to another location while

in use.
Replication Hide that a resource is replicated.

Concurrency Hide that a resource may be shared by several competitive

users.
Failure Hide the failure and recovery of a resource. 11
Openness in a Distributed System
 An open distributed system is a system that offers services according
to standard rules that describe the syntax and semantics of those
services.
 For example, in computer networks, standard rules govern the format,
contents, and meaning of messages sent and received. Such rules are
formalized in protocols.
 Interoperability, easy to configure ,and portability are goals for
open distributed system
 Interoperability characterizes the extent by which two implementations of
systems or components from different manufacturers can coexist and work
together by merely relying on each other's services as specified by a common
standard. Portability characterizes to what extent an application developed for
a distributed system . 12
Scalability in Distributed Systems
 Distributed systems operate effectively and efficiently at
many different scales, ranging from a small intranet to
the Internet.
 A system is described as scalable if it will remain
effective when there is a significant increase in the
number of resources and the number of users.
 Scalability of a system can be measured along at least
three different dimensions.
 size
 geographically
 administratively
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 Types of Distributed System
1. Distributed Computing Systems
 used for high performance computing tasks.
 consists of two sub groups: cluster computing and grid
computing.
In cluster computing the underlying hardware consists of a
collection of similar workstations or PCs closely
connected by means of a high speed local area network.
 each node runs the same operating system.
 used for parallel programming in which a single compute
intensive program is run in parallel on multiple machines.

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 Grid computing subgroup consists of distributed
systems that are often constructed as a federation of
computer systems.
 Grid computing systems have high degree of
heterogeneity: no assumptions are made concerning
hardware, operating systems, networks, administrative
domains, security policies, etc
 A key issue in a grid computing system is that
resources from different organizations are brought
together to allow the collaboration of a group of people
or institutions.

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 2. Distributed Information Systems
 a networked application consisted of a server running
that application and making it available to remote
programs (clients).
 Such clients could send a request to the server for
executing a specific operation, after which a response
would be sent back

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3. Distributed Pervasive Systems

 The above distributed systems are characterized by

their stability; fixed nodes having high quality
connection to a network.
 There are also mobile and embedded computing
devices which are small, battery powered, mobile, and
with a wireless connection. They are referred as
distributed pervasive systems, in which instability is the
default behavior.

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Requirements for pervasive applications
 Embrace contextual changes: a device is aware that its
environment may change all the time,
e.g. changing its network access point
 Encourage ad hoc composition: devices are used in
different ways by different users
 Recognize sharing as the default: devices join a system
to access or provide information.
 Examples
 Home Systems that integrate consumer electronics
 Electronic Health Care Systems to monitor the well-being of
individuals
 Sensor Networks

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Chapter
1

Chapter
2

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