Distributed Systems

OUTLINE
BRIEF HISTORY.
WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS?
WHY DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS ? ?
ADVANTAGES OF D.S. OVER THE
CENTRALIZED SYSTEM.
ADVANTAGES OF D.S. OVER INDEPENDENT
PCS.
 ORGANIZATION OF DISTRIBUTED
SYSTEM.
GOALS OF D.S.
Resource Sharing.
Openness.
Transparency.
Scalability.
Pitfalls.
 TYPES OF DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS.
Distributed Computing Systems.
Distributed Information Systems.
Distributed Pervasive Systems.
SUMMARY.
 HISTORY
1945~1985
Computers were large and expensive.
No way to connect them.
All systems were Centralized Systems.

Mid-1980s
Powerful microprocessors.
High Speed Computer Networks (LANs , WANs).

Then came the

Distributed Systems
 What is a Distributed System
(DS)?
A collection of independent computers that
appears to its users as a single coherent
system.
It consists of multiple computers that do not
share memory.
Each Computer has its own memory and runs
its own operating system.
The computers can communicate with each
other through a communication network.
 Two aspects:
(1) independent computers and (2) single
system => middleware.
EXAMPLES
World Wide Web (WWW) is the biggest example of distributed
system.
Clusters, Network of workstations
Distributed Manufacturing system (e.g., automated assembly
line)
Network of branch office computers-Information system to
handle automatic processing of orders.
Network of embedded systems
New Cell processor (Playstation 3)
 WHY DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS ? ?
Much better price/performance ratio
Resource sharing
Enhanced performance -- tasks can be
executed concurrently; load distribution to
reduce response time
Higher reliability -- data replication
Easier modular expansion -- hardware and
software resources can be easily added
without replacing existing resources
 ADVANTAGES OF D.S. OVER CENTRALIZED
SYSTEM:
Economics:
A collection of microprocessors offer a better price/performance than
mainframes. Low price/performance ratio: cost effective way to increase
computing power.
Reliability:
If one machine crashes, the system as a whole can still survive. Higher availability
and improved reliability.
Speed: a distributed system may have more total computing power than a
mainframe.
Ex.: 10,000 CPU chips, each running at 50 MIPS (million instructions per second) . Not possible to
build 500,000 MIPS single processor.
Enhanced performance through load distributing.
Incremental growth: Computing power can be added in small increments. This
leads to Modular expandability
ADVANTAGES OF D.S. OVER INDEPENDENT
PCs:

Data sharing: allow many users to access

to a common data base.
Resource Sharing: expensive peripherals
like color printers.
Communication: enhance human-to-
human communication. E.g.: email, chat.
Flexibility: spread the workload over the
available machines
 ORGANIZATION OF D.S.:

A distributed system organized as middleware.

The middleware layer extends over multiple machines, and
offers each application the same interface.
 GOALS OF D.S. :
Resource Sharing.
Transparency.
Openness.
Scalability.
Pitfalls
 RESOURCE SHARING:
With Distributed Systems, it is easier for
users to access remote resources and to
share resources with other users.
Examples: printers, files, Web pages, etc
A distributed system should also make it
easier for users to exchange information.
Easier resource and data exchange could
cause security problems a distributed
system should deal with this problem.
Transparency in a Distributed System

It hides the fact that the processes and

resources are physically distributed
across multiple computers.

Transparency is of various forms as

follows:
Figure 2. Different forms of transparency in a distributed
system (ISO, 1995).
 Degree of Transparency
Aiming at full distribution transparency may be too much:
Users may be located in different continents; distribution is apparent
and not something you want to hide
Completely hiding failures of networks and nodes is (theoretically and
practically) impossible
You cannot distinguish a slow computer from a failing one
You can never be sure that a server actually performed an
operation before a crash
Full transparency will cost performance
DS may consist of devices carried around by people; exposing
distribution of the system is more desirable
Keeping Web caches exactly up-to-date with the master copy
Immediately using write operations to disk for fault tolerance
 Openness of Distributed Systems
Open distributed system:
Be able to interact with services from other open systems,
irrespective of the underlying environment:
Systems should conform to well-defined interfaces
Systems should support portability of applications
Systems should easily interoperate

Achieving openness:
At least make the distributed system independent from
heterogeneity of the underlying environment:
Hardware
Platforms
Languages
 Policies vs. Mechanisms

Defining openness: Requires support for different policies

specified by applications and users:
What level of consistency do we require for client cached data?
Which operations do we allow downloaded code to perform?
Which QoS requirements do we adjust in the face of varying bandwidth?
What level of secrecy do we require for communication?
Implementing openness: Ideally, a distributed system provides
only mechanisms:
Allow (dynamic) setting of caching policies, preferably per cachable item
Support different levels of trust for mobile code
Provide adjustable QoS parameters per data stream
Offer different encryption algorithms
 Scale in Distributed Systems
Systems grow with time or become obsolete.
Techniques that require resources linearly in terms
of the size of the system are not scalable. (e.g.,
broadcast based query won't work for large
distributed systems.)
Examples of bottlenecks (i.e., scalability
limitations)
Centralized components: a single mail server
Centralized tables/data: a single URL address book
Centralized algorithms: routing based on complete
 Scalability Problems

Figure 3. Examples of scalability limitations

Characteristics of decentralized algorithms:

No machine has complete information about the system state.
Machines make decisions based only on local information.
Failure of one machine does not ruin the algorithm.
There is no implicit assumption that a global clock exists.
Scaling Techniques:

The difference between letting:

a) a server or
b) a client check forms as they are being filled
Another important scaling technique is distribution, e.g. Domain
Name System ( DNS ):
The DNS name space is hierarchically organized into a tree of
domains, which are divided into nonoverlapping zones.

Figure 5. An example of dividing the DNS name space into zones.

Pitfalls when Developing Distributed Systems
False assumptions made by first time
developer:
The network is reliable.
The network is secure.
The network is homogeneous.
The topology does not change.
Latency is zero.
Bandwidth is infinite.
Transport cost is zero.
There is one administrator.
 TYPES OF D.S. :
Distributed Computing
Systems.
Cluster Computing Systems.
Grid Computing Systems.

Distributed Information
Systems.
 DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEMS:
Goal: High performance computing tasks.

Cluster Computing Systems:

A supercomputer built from off the
shelf computer in a high-speed network
(usually a LAN)
Most common use: a single program is run
in parallel on multiple machines
Cluster Computing Systems:
Grid Computing Systems:

Contrary to clusters, grids are usually

composed of different types of computers
(hardware, OS, network, security, etc.)
Resources from different organizations are
brought together to allow collaboration
Examples: SETI@home, WWW
Grid Computing Systems:
 DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION
SYSTEMS:
Goal: Distribute information across several
Servers.
Remote processes called Clients access the
servers to manipulate the information
Different communication models are used.
The most usual are RPC (Remote Procedure
Calls) and the object oriented RMI (Remote
Method Invocations)
Often associated with Transaction
systems
Examples:
Banks;
Travel agencies;
Rent-a-Cars;
Etc
DISTRIBUTED PERVASIVE SYSTEMS:
These are the distributed systems involving
mobile and embedded computer devices like
Small, wireless, battery-powered devices
(PDAs, smart phones, sensors, wireless
surveillance cams, portable ECG monitors,
etc.)
These systems characterized by their
instability when compared to more
traditional distributed systems
Pervasive Systems are all around us, and
ideally should be able to adapt to the lack
of human administrative control:
Automatically connect to a different
network;
Discover services and react accordingly;
Automatic self configuration (E.g.: UPnP
Universal Plug and Play)
Examples: Home Systems, Electronic
Health Care Systems, Sensor Networks,
etc.
 SUMMARY
Distributed systems are everywhere
Internet, intranet, wireless networks.
Resource sharing is the main
motivating factor for constructing
distributed systems.
The construction of distributed systems
produces many challenges like Secure
communication over public networks.
Thank
You!!!