Chapter 4

Architectures of a Distributed
Systems
Motivations
Distributed system is collection of loosely coupled
processors interconnected by a communications network
Processors variously called nodes, computers, machines, hosts
Site is location of the processor

Reasons for distributed systems

Resource sharing
sharing and printing files at remote sites
processing information in a distributed sites

using remote specialized hardware devices

Computation speedup load sharing

Reliability and availability detect and recover from site failure,
function transfer, reintegrate failed site and to make sure that
the site is available even if some systems are failed.
Modular expandability new hardware and software can easily be
added without replacing the existing resources.
Distributed systems

 Distributed System Architecture

3 broad categories
Minicomputer model: It consists of several minicomputers e.g VAXs, each
computer supports multiple users and provides access to remote resources.
(Processor < Users)
Workstation model: It consists of a number of workstations up to thousands,
each user has a workstation at his disposal.
(Processor = Users)
Processor pool model: This model attempts to allocate one or more
processors according to users needs. Once the processors assigned to a user
complete their task , they return to the pool and await a new assignment from
different user.
(Processor > Users)
 It consists of several autonomous computers
Distributed Operating Systems
connected by a communication network , a
distributed operating system appears to its
users as a
centralized operating system for a single
machine but
it runs on multiple independent computers.
 Issues In Distributed Operating
Systems
Global knowledge:
Lack of global memory and global clock
Naming:
Names are used to refer to objects e.g printer, files and
users. In distributed system, the directories may be replaced and
stored at many different locations to overcome a single point of
failure, so it require more storage capacity and synchronization
requirements need to be met when directories are updated.

Scalability:
As the number of users increase and the system gets
larger the number of file location queries will increase and the
overhead will grow larger as well, hurting the performance of every
computer.
 Issues In Distributed Operating
Systems
Compatibility:
interoperability among the resources in the system, there
are 3 different levels of compatibility that exists in distributed system (binary
level, the execution level and protocol level so system cannot include
computers with different architecture from the same of different vendors.

Process Synchronization:
The Synchronization of processes in
distributed system is difficult because of the un-availability of shared
memory. This problem is know as mutual exclusion problem. Deadlocks may
occur .

Resource Management (Protection):

Users should access both local and remote
resources any time in effective manner. The users can access remote
resources as easily as they are accessing local resources but specific location
of resources should be hidden from the users. (data migration , computation
message migration and distributed scheduling)
 Issues In Distributed Operating
Systems
Security:
Two things are under security in distributed operating systems ,
1-Authentication: A process of guaranteeing that an entity is
what it claims to be (If any one system compromises then all
systems are effected).
2- Authorization: a Process is deciding what privileges an entity has
(read,write and execute permissions)

Structuring :
The Structure of operating system defines how various
parts of os are organized. Traditional method of structuring os is to
construct them on one big kernel. This kernel would consist of all the
services provided by os. In Distributed os this big kernel or development of
collective kernel structures lacks.
The client-server computing model
Communication networks
Local-Area Network (LAN) designed to
cover small geographical area.
Multiaccess bus, ring, or star network
Speed 10 100 megabits/second
Broadcast is fast and cheap
Nodes:
usually workstations and/or personal computers
a few (usually one or two) mainframes
Communication networks LAN
Communication networks
Wide-Area Network (WAN) links
geographically separated sites
Point-to-point connections over long-haul
lines (often leased from a phone company)
Speed 1.544 45 megbits/second
Broadcast usually requires multiple
messages
Nodes:
usually a high percentage of mainframes
Communication networks WAN
Network Topologies
Packet Switching VS Circuit Switching
Circuit switching - A permanent physical link is
established for the duration of the communication
(i.e., telephone system)

Packet switching - Messages of variable length are

divided into fixed-length packets which are sent to the
destination
Each packet may take a different path through the
network
The packets must be reassembled into messages as
they arrive
Circuit switching requires setup time, but incurs less
overhead for shipping each message.
packet switching require less setup time, but
incur more overhead per message
Message Passing Model
Message switching - A temporary link is
established for the duration of one message
transfer (i.e., post-office mailing system) .
It is some where in between circuit and packet
switching
Collision Detection

CSMA/CD - Carrier sense with multiple access

(CSMA); collision detection (CD)
A site determines whether another message is
currently being transmitted over that link. If two or
more sites begin transmitting at exactly the same time,
then they will register a CD and will stop transmitting
When the system is very busy, many collisions may
occur, and thus performance may be degraded

CSMA/CD is used successfully in the Ethernet system,

the most common network system
The ISO OSI reference model
The ISO OSI reference model
Physical layer handles the mechanical and electrical
details of the physical transmission of a bit stream
(ethernet)

Data-link layer handles the frames, or fixed-length

parts of packets, including any error detection and
recovery that occurred in the physical layer

Network layer provides connections and routes packets

in the communication network, including handling the
address of outgoing packets, decoding the address of
incoming packets, and maintaining routing information for
proper response to changing load levels (routing and
switching)
The ISO OSI reference model
Transport layer responsible for low-level network access and for
message transfer between clients, including partitioning messages into
packets, maintaining packet order, controlling flow, and generating
physical addresses (for example, determining whether all packets have
arrived and error-checking. It ensures complete data transfer. )

Session layer implements sessions, or process-to-process

communications protocols (permission, authentication)

Presentation layer resolves the differences in formats among the

various sites in the network, including character conversions, and half
duplex/full duplex (echoing into 0 and 1, encryption)

Application layer interacts directly with the users deals with file
transfer, remote-login protocols and electronic mail, as well as
schemas for distributed databases ( It represents the services that directly
support applications such as software for file transfers, database access,
email, and network games)