Distributed Computing Environment

Outline

What is DCE?
Why DCE ?
Where it used ?
Goals of DCE.
DCE architecture.
Advantage of DCE.
Disadvantage of DCE.
Conclusion.

:What is DCE
DCE (Distributed Computing Environment) is an industry
standard software technology for managing computing
and data exchange in a distributed systems.

What is DCE (cont.)

- Not an OS or an Application
- An Integrated Set Of Services And Tools That can be installed as
a coherent environment on the top of existing OS.
- Serve as a platform for building & running distributed
applications

What is DCE (cont.)

- Conceals differences between machines & provides transparency

Distributed Application

DCE

OS and network Services

What is DCE (cont.)

DCE is based on three distributed computing models:
-Client/server : A way of organizing a distributed
application.
-Remote procedure call : A way of communicating
between parts of a distributed application.
-Shared files :A way of handling data in a distributed
system.

?Why DCE
DCE addresses : File consistency , clock synchronization and security by providing an integrated set of cross
platform/services which aids in the development of distributed
.applications

:Where it used
DCE is typically used in a larger network
of computing systems.

It use client/server model

:Goals of DCE
1) can run on many different computers, operating
systems (Unix, VMS, windows) and networks in a
distributed system.
2) Provide a mechanism for synchronizing clocks
on different machines.

Goals of DCE (cont.):

3) Provide tools to make it easier to write
distributed applications in which multiple users at
multiple locations can work together.
4)Provide extensive tools for authentication and
access protection .

DCE architecture:
DCE cell.
DCE threads
DCE remote procedure call
DCE directory service: cell directory service
DCE distributed time service
DCE security service
Distributed file service

DCE cell:
A cell is a group of users, systems, and resources that are a
part of group and having there own directory ,service and
security service .

DCE cell:
-Users log into accounts in a cell.
-Access control lists (ACLs) identify users and groups in
the cell (they can also refer to users and groups in
other cells).

DCE cell:
-A DCE cell can be configured in many ways,
depending on its users' requirements.
-A cell consists of three kinds of nodes:
-DCE user machines.
-DCE administrator machines.
-DCE server machines.

DCE cell:
-DCE user machines are general-purpose DCE
machines. They contain software that enables them to
act as clients to all of the DCE services.
-DCE administrator machines contain software that
enables a DCE administrator to manage DCE system
services remotely.
-The DCE server machines are equipped with
special software enabling them to provide one or more
of the DCE services.

DCE cell:
-Every cell must have at least one each of the following
servers in order to function:
- Cell Directory Server: responsible for repository of resources
and ACL.
- Security Server : responsible for authentication.
- Distributed Time Server : that provides an accurate clock for
proper functioning of the entire cell

DCE cell:

DCE thread :
-DCE thread package: a collection of user-level library procedures
that allow processes to create, delete, and manipulate threads.
-multiple tasks could occur at the same time to complete a
process(work).
-a single threaded program can be converted into multithreaded
one by setting parameter indicating that more threads will be
used.

DCE thread :
-All threads in a process share the same address space, file
system, and other process resources. Each thread has its own
program counter, stack, and registers
-4 States:
Running, Ready, Waiting, Terminated

Scheduling:
-Determines how long a thread may run and which thread will
run next.
-Similar to scheduling processes.
- Threads in DCE have priorities.
- DCE has two scheduling algorithms:
- FIFO
- Round Robin

Scheduling algorithms:
-FIFO
search and locate the priority queue with one or more threads
from highest to lowest, run the first thread on this queue until
finish by blocking or exiting.
- Round Robin
is generally used,timeis assigned to each process in equal
portions and in circular order, handling all processes
withoutpriority.
Round-robin scheduling is simple, easy to implement.

DCE remote procedure call

-RPC
-DCE is based on the client/server model. RPC package of DCE
allows a client process to call a procedure on a remote computer.
It allows application programmer to extend the local procedure
call to a distributed environment.

DCE remote procedure call

RPC hides communication detail and removes system and

hardware dependencies. It can automatically handle data type
conversions between the client and the server without considering
whether they run on the same or different architecture, or have
same or different byte ordering.

DCE remote procedure call

Advantage of using RPC

- Operating System Independence.
-Machine Independence.
-Language Independence.
-Protocol Independence

DCE directory service:

Provide up-to-date addressing information.
Its distributed service.
A replicated service.

DCE Time Services:

It enables distributed applications on different computers to
determine event sequencing, duration, and scheduling.
Keeps clocks on separate computers participating in a distributed
system synchronization.
It uses coordinated universal time(UTC) to synchronize DCE hosts
time.

DCE Time Services:

DTS synchronizes the clocks in networked computer systems. It
checks time synchronization and adjusts clocks when the clock
error exceeds a certain acceptable range.

DCE Security Service:

-DCE Security Service comprises several parts:

authentication service.
This service enables two processes on different machines to be
certain of one another's identity, or authenticated.

audit service.
to track the services accessed by the user and build a report in
case of security breach.

DCE Security Service:

privilege service.
to determine if the user has authorization to access the necessary
services.
registry service.
The registry service is a replicated service that manages the cell's
security database. The security database contains entries for
security entities, which are called principals.

DCE Security Service:

ACL facility.
DCE ACLs are lists of users who are authorized to access a given
resource
login facility.
to enable user logging using a password.
password strength service.
to determine whether the password set for a user account
conforms to the password strength requirements

DCE Security Service:

DCE distrbuted file Service:

TheDCE Distributed File System(DCE/DFS)is the remote file
access protocol used with the DCE.
Allows users to access and share files stored on a file server
anywhere on the network without knowing the physical location
of the file.

DCE distrbuted file Service:

DFS Data Organization:
Files and directories.
File sets.
Aggregates.

DCE distrbuted file Service:

DFS Components

Cache Manager
File Exporter
Token Manager
DCE Local File System
Fileset Server
Replication Server
Update Server
Fileset Location Server
Backup Server

DFS Components

Advantage of DCE :
1) The services provided by DCE is much easier to use than the
ones found in other computer networking environments.

2) the DCE security service provides a reliable way to determine if

a user in a distributed system should be allowed to perform
certain action

Advantage of DCE :
3)supports portability by hiding differences among the various
hardware ,software, and networking elements in a large network.
4) supports distributed file service which means files present on
workstation in a network are available to this network.

Disadvantage of DCE :
With all these advantages, DCE has now faded from the market as
CORBA and DCOM have become dominant in the Distributed
Computing Environment .This is due to the fact that DCE doesnt
support Object oriented languages.

Conclusion
Though DCE was the de facto standard for middleware applications, its lack of support for object-oriented languages has been
the greatest cause for DCE to lose market share. Hence the
once
promising technology is now used only for Legacy system
support. Many new Distributed-computing ventures are started
using CORBA or DCOM. Hence we can safely say DCE was a
very good start to Distributed Computing.

Thank You