CS407 M3 Distributed Computing Ktustudents - in

20-Oct-18
Module 3 - Overview
Communication Paradigms:
 Inter Process Communication:
DISTRIBUTED  IPC Characteristics
COMPUTING  Multicast Communication
 Network Virtualization
MODULE 3  Case study: Skype
COMMUNICATION PARADIGMS:  Indirect Communication:
IPC, REMOTE INVOCATION AND INDIRECT  Group communication
COMMUNICATION PARADIGMS  Remote Invocation:
 Remote Procedure call
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Dept. of CSE, Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam 1 Dept. of CSE, Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam 2
Objectives and Outcome

 Examine the different communication paradigms –
IPC, Remote Invocation and Indirect Communication.
 To understand the characteristics of inter process
communication. CHARACTERISTICS OF IPC
 To summarize multicast communication based on IP.
 To explain Network virtualization.
 To present a case study on ‘Skype’.  General IPC characteristics.
 To explain the group communication process.  Datagram and Stream communication using
 To explain Remote Procedure call (RPC). UDP and TCP.
Course Outcome:
 CO3: Summarize the mechanisms for inter process
communication in a distributed computing system. L2
For more study materials: WWW.KTUSTUDENTS.IN

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20-Oct-18
Middleware Layers The Characteristics of IPC

 Concerned with the communication aspects of  Message passing between a pair of processes is
middleware: done by two message communication operations:
 send and receive
 A process sends a message (a sequence of bytes) to
a destination and another process at the destination
receives the message.
 This involves
 the communication of data from the sending process
to the receiving process and
 the synchronization of the two processes.
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Sync. and Async. Communication Synchronous Communication

 A queue is associated with each message destination.  The sending and receiving processes synchronize at
 Sending processes add messages to remote queues at every message.
receiver.  Both send and receive are blocking operations.
 Receiving processes remove messages from local  Whenever a send is issued the sending process (or
queues. thread) is blocked until the corresponding receive is
 Communication between the sending and receiving issued at receiver.
processes may be either synchronous or  Whenever a receive is issued by a process (or thread),
asynchronous. it blocks until a message arrives.

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Asynchronous Communication Asynchronous Communication…

 The send operation is non-blocking.  In multithreading environment like Java, blocking
 Sending process proceeds as soon as the message is receive has no disadvantages.
copied to a local buffer.  It can be issued by one thread while other threads in the
 The transmission of the message proceeds in parallel
process remain active.
with the sending process.  It is simple to synchronize the receiving threads with the
incoming message.
 The receive operation can be blocking/non-blocking.
 Non blocking communication seems more efficient, but
 Non-blocking - the receiving process proceeds with its
involves extra complexity in the receiving process.
program after issuing a receive operation which
provides the buffer to be filled in the background.  The need to acquire the incoming message out of its flow
of control.
» It must separately receive notification by polling or
 So current systems generally do not provide non-
interrupt when the buffer has been filled up.
blocking receive.
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Message Destinations – IP+Port No. Location Transparency

 In the Internet protocols, messages are sent to (Internet  If the client uses a fixed IP to refer to a service, then
address, local port) pairs. that service must always run on the same computer
 IP address points to the destination computer. for its address to remain valid.
 Port no. is an integer that specifies a message destination  This can be avoided by using the following approach to
within a computer (identifies a particular process). providing location transparency:
» Each computer has a large number (65536 or 216) of port numbers.  Client programs refer to services by names and use a
 Any process that know the port can send message to it. name server or binder to translate their names into
 Servers generally publicize their port numbers for use server locations (IP address) at runtime.
by the clients.  Eg. DNS that translate domain names like ‘google.com’ to its
 A port has exactly one receiver, but can have many corresponding IP addresses.
senders.  This allows services to be relocated.
 Processes may use multiple ports to receive messages.  but not to migrate (to move while the system is running).

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Reliability Ordering
 A reliable communication ensures validity and integrity:  Sender order delivery:
 Some applications require that messages must be
 Validity: A point to point message service is considered
delivered in the order in which they were transmitted by
to be reliable if messages are guaranteed to be
the sender.
delivered despite a ‘reasonable’ no of packets being
 The delivery of messages out of sender order is
dropped or lost.
regarded as a failure by such applications.
 Considered unreliable if messages are not guaranteed
to be delivered when even a single packet is dropped
or lost.
 Integrity: messages must arrive uncorrupted and

without duplication.
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Sockets Sockets…
 Both UDP and TCP uses the socket abstraction.  A socket pair (local IP address, local port, foreign IP address,
 A socket provides an endpoint for communication between foreign port) uniquely identifies a communication.
processes.  Messages sent to a socket can be received only by a process
 IPC consists of transmitting a message between a socket in

associated with that IP and port no.
one process and a socket in another process (figure).  Processes may use the same socket for sending and receiving
messages.
 To receive messages, a socket must be bound to a local port
and to its IP address.  Any process may use multiple ports to receive messages.
 But a process cannot share ports with other processes on the
same computer.
 Processes using IP multicast do share ports.
 Any number of processes may send messages to the same port.

 Each socket is associated with a particular protocol – either
UDP or TCP.

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Java API for Internet Addresses

 Java provides a class, InetAddress that represents
Internet Addresses. UDP DATADRAM
 Users of this class refer to computers by DNS host
names as argument.
COMMUNICATION
 The method uses the domain name to get the
correspondingly mapped Internet address.
 Eg: InetAddress myIPaddr = Illustrate the communication process using UDP.
InetAddress.getByName(“kirk.cs.twsu.edu”);
Note: kirk.cs.twsu.edu – DNS host name
 getByName() – get the IP address using hostname.
 This method can throw UnknownHostException
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API to UDP - Overview UDP Communication

 The application program interface to UDP provides a  A datagram sent by UDP is transmitted without
message passing abstraction – the simplest form of acknowledgement or retries.
interprocess communication.  If failure occurs, the message may not arrive.
 This enables a sending process to transmit a single  Datagram is transmitted when one process sends it and
message to a receiving process. other process receives it.
 The independent packets containing these messages  To send or receive, a process must first create a socket
are called datagrams. bound to a local host IP and a local port.
 In the Java and UNIX APIs, the sender specifies the  A server will bind its socket to a known server port.
destination using a socket -  A client binds its socket to any free local port.
 an indirect reference to a particular port used by the  The receive() method returns the message along with
destination process at a destination computer. the IP address and port of the sender.

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Issues in UDP Communication Issues in UDP Communication…

Message size: Blocking:
 The receiving process needs to specify an array of  Sockets normally provide non-blocking sends and
bytes of a particular size in which to receive a blocking receives for datagram comm.
message.  The send operation returns once the message is handed
 If the array is smaller, the message will be truncated on over to the underlying UDP and IP protocol.
arrival.  They take care of transmitting to destination.
 IP protocol allows packet lengths upto 216 bytes  On arrival, the message is placed in the queue for the
including header and the message. socket that is bound to the destination port.
 The most used size restriction is 8 KB (kilobytes).  The message can be collected from the queue by an
 Messages larger then this must be fragmented to outstanding or future invocation of receive in that socket.
multiple datagrams.  Messages are discarded if no process already has a
socket bound to the destination port.
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Issues in UDP Communication… Issues in UDP Communication…

Blocking: Timeouts:
 The method receive blocks until a datagram is received,  Receive process that blocks for ever is suitable for use
unless a timeout has been set on the socket. by a server that is waiting to receive requests from its
 If the process that invokes the receive method has other clients.
work to do while waiting for the message, it should  But is may not be appropriate in some cases as it may
arrange to use a separate thread. wait indefinitely in case of crash or message loss.
 The receiving thread handle over the work to other  For that, in some programs, timeouts can be set on
threads and wait for the next message from other sockets.
clients.  It should be fairly large in comparison with the time
required to transmit a message.

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Issues in UDP Communication… Failure Model for UDP Datagrams

Receive from Any:  Failure model defines reliable communication in terms
 Receive method does not specify an origin for of integrity and validity. (not corrupted or duplicated)
messages, it gets a message addressed to its socket  Ensured by checksum and sequence no.
from any origin.  UDP datagram suffer from the following failures:
 Receive method returns the IP address and local port  Omission failures: Message may be dropped
of the sender to allow the recipient to know where it occasionally. Due to checksum error or no buffer space at
came fro. source or destination.
 It is possible to connect a datagram socket to a » send-omission and receive-omission failures.
particular remote port and internet address so that the  Ordering: Messages can sometimes be delivered out of
socket is able to send and receive messages from that sender order.
address only.  A reliable delivery service may be constructed by the
use of acknowledgements.
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Uses of UDP Java API for UDP Datagrams

 UDP can be used in applications which accept
occasional omission failures.
 Eg.: DNS, RIP, traceroute, DHCP, NTP, SNMP, RPC, VoIP
 UDP is preferred because they do not suffer from the
overheads associated with guaranteed message
delivery like:
 the need to store state information at source and
destination.
 the transmission of extra messages.
 latency for the sender.

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Java API for UDP Datagrams… Java UDP API… Datagram Packet
 The Java API provides datagram communication by  This class provides a constructor that makes an instance out
means of two classes: of an array of bytes comprising a message, the length of the
 DatagramPacket - used to implement a connectionless
message and the IP and local port no of the destination
socket.
packet delivery service.
 DatagramSocket - specifies the sending or receiving
 Instances of this may be transmitted between processes
point for a packet delivery service.
when send and receive happens.
 Also provides another constructor for message reception,
 Methods of DatagramPacket: whose arguments specify an array of bytes in which to
 getData() - Returns the data buffer. receive the message and the length of the array.
 getPort() - Returns the port number on the remote host.  A received message is put in the DatagramPacket together
 getAddress() - Returns the IP address.
with its length and the IP address and port of the sending
socket. (using the methods mentioned before)
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Java UDP API… Datagram Socket Java UDP API… Datagram Socket…
 Support sockets for sending and receiving UDP  receive - Receives a datagram packet from this socket.
datagrams.  Argument is an empty datagram packet in which to put the
 Provides a constructor that takes port no as argument. message, its length and origin
 Also provides a no argument constructor that allows the  setSoTimeout - Enable/disable the specified timeout, in
system to choose a free local port. milliseconds.
 Throws SocketException if the port is already in use or a  The receive method will block for this time and then throw
reserved port (below 1024) an InterruptedIO Exception
 Provides the following methods:  connect - Connects the socket to a remote address for
this socket.
 send - Sends a datagram packet from this socket.
 Then the socket can send and receive messages only from
» Arguments include an instance of the datagram packet
that address
and its destination

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UDP Communication Example: UDP Client - sends a message to the server and gets a reply
import java.net.*;
 Client sends a message to server at a port 6789 and then import java.io.*;
wait for the reply. public class UDPClient{
public static void main(String args[]){
 Arguments of main() supply a message and DNS // args give message contents and server hostname
DatagramSocket aSocket = null;
hostname of the server. try {
aSocket = new DatagramSocket();
 Message is converted into an array of bytes. byte [] m = args[0].getBytes();
InetAddress aHost = InetAddress.getByName(args[1]);
 DNS hostname is converted into an Internet address. int serverPort = 6789;
DatagramPacket request =
new DatagramPacket(m, args[0].length(), aHost, serverPort);
aSocket.send(request);
 Server creates a socket bound to its server port (6789). byte[] buffer = new byte[1000];
DatagramPacket reply = new DatagramPacket(buffer, buffer.length);
 Then repeatedly waits to receive a request message from aSocket.receive(reply);
a client to which it replies by sending back the same System.out.println("Reply: " + new String(reply.getData()));
}catch (SocketException e){System.out.println("Socket: " + e.getMessage());
message. }catch (IOException e){System.out.println("IO: " + e.getMessage());}
}finally {if(aSocket != null) aSocket.close();}
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}
Dept. of CSE, Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam 33 } Dept. of CSE, Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam 34
UDP Server repeatedly receives a request and sends it back to the client
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
public class UDPServer{
public static void main(String args[]){
TCP STREAM
DatagramSocket aSocket = null;
try{
COMMUNICATION
aSocket = new DatagramSocket(6789);
byte[] buffer = new byte[1000];
while(true){
DatagramPacket request =
new DatagramPacket(buffer, buffer.length);
aSocket.receive(request);
Illustrate the communication process using TCP.
DatagramPacket reply = new DatagramPacket(request.getData(),
request.getLength(), request.getAddress(), request.getPort());
aSocket.send(reply);
}
}catch (SocketException e){System.out.println("Socket: " + e.getMessage());
}catch (IOException e) {System.out.println("IO: " + e.getMessage());}
}finally {if(aSocket != null) aSocket.close();}
}
}

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TCP Communication TCP Communication…

 The API to the TCP provides the abstraction of a two  3. Flow control – The TCP protocol attempts to match
way stream of bytes. the speeds of the sending and receiving process.
 Data is written to and read from this stream of bytes,  If the writer is too fast for the reader, then it will be
with no message boundaries. blocked until the reader has consumed sufficient data.
 The following network characteristics are hidden by streams:  4. Message duplication and ordering – Message
 1. Message Sizes – The application can choose how much identifiers are associated with each IP packet.
(small/large) data it writes to a stream or reads from it.  It enables the recipient to detect and reject duplicates, or
 Underlying TCP implementation decides how much data to to reorder messages.
collect before transmitting it as one or more IP packets.  5. Message destinations - A pair of processes establish
 2. Lost Messages – TCP uses an acknowledgement scheme. a connection before they communicate over a stream.
 If the ack is not received within a timeout, it will be resent.  Then the processes simply read from and write to the
 Sliding window scheme reduces the no. of acks. stream without using IP address or port nos.
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TCP… Establishing a Connection: TCP… Establishing a Connection: …

 During conn. est., one process act as client and the other as  When the server accepts a connection, a new stream socket
server, but thereafter they could be peers. is created for the server to communicate with a client.
 A connect request is send from client to server followed by  Meanwhile, it retains its socket at the server port for
an accept message back from server to client, before any listening for connect requests from other clients.
communication can take place.  The pair of sockets in the client and server are connected by
 Considerable overhead for a simple client-server req/reply. a pair of streams, one in each direction.
 Client creates a stream socket bound to any local port and  Thus each socket has an input stream and an output
then makes a connect request asking for a connection to a stream.
server at its server port.  One of the pair of processes can send information to the
 The server creates a listening socket bound to a server other by writing to its output stream, and the other
port and wait for clients to request connections. process obtains the information by reading from its input
 The listening socket maintains a queue of incoming stream.
connection requests.

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TCP… Establishing a Connection: … TCP… Outstanding Issues:

 An application closes a socket once it is done with the  The issues related to stream communication are:
transmission, it will not write any more data to its output  1. Matching of data items: Two communicating processes
stream. need to agree on the contents of the transmitted data.
 Any data in the output buffer is sent to the other end of the  Eg: If a process writes an int followed by a double to the stream,
stream and put in the queue at the destination socket, with then the reading process must read in the same order, else error
an indication that the stream is broken. in interpreting data occurs, or blocks due to insufficient data.
 The destination process can read the data in the queue, but  2. Blocking: The data written to a stream is kept in a
any further reads after the queue is empty will result in an queue at the destination socket.
indication of end of stream.
 Read: When a process tries to read data from an input stream,
 When a process exits or fails, all of its sockets are it will get the data or block until the data is available.
eventually closed.  Write: The process that writes data to the stream may be
 Any process attempting to communicate with it will discover blocked if the socket at the other end is queuing as much data
that its connection has been broken. as the protocol allows.
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TCP… Outstanding Issues: TCP Failure Model

 3. Thread: When a sever accepts a connection, it  TCP create a reliable communication as far as possible:
generally creates a new thread for the new client.  Checksums and sequence no. for integrity: checksums
 The advantage of using a separate thread for each client to detect and reject corrupt packets and seq. nos to
is that the server can block when waiting for input without detect and reject duplicate packets.
delaying other clients.  Timeouts and retransmission for validity: timeouts and
 If threads are not provided, an alternative is to test retransmissions to deal with lost packets.
whether input is available from a stream before
 ie., messages are guaranteed to be delivered even when
attempting to read it.
some of the underlying packets are lost.
 But, sometimes it is not reliable, as it does not guarantee
to deliver messages in the face of all difficulties.
 If the network becomes congested and packet loss is too
much, no ack is received and then the connection is broken.

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TCP Failure Model… Uses of TCP

 When a connection is broken, a process using it will  Many services use TCP connections with reserved port
be notified if it attempts to read or write. numbers
 It will has the following effects:  HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) is used for
 The processes using the connection cannot distinguish
communication between web browsers and web servers.
between network failure and failure of the process at  FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows directories on a remote
the other end of communication. computer to be browsed and files to be transferred from
one computer to another over a connection.
 The communication process cannot tell whether their
 Telnet (Terminal Network) provides access by means of a
recent messages have been received or not.
terminal session to a remote computer.
 SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is used send mail
between computers.
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Java API for TCP Streams Java API for TCP Streams…
The Java API provides TCP streams by two classes:
ServerSocket – Intended for use by a server to create a
socket at the server port for listening to connect
requests from clients.
ServerSocket ss = new ServerSocket(serverPort);
 Its accept method gets a connect request from the
queue or, if the queue is empty, blocks until one
arrives.
 The result of executing accept is an instance of Socket
class – a socket to use for communicating with the

client.
Socket clientSoc = ss.accept();

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Java API for TCP Streams… TCP Communication Example:

 Socket - This class represents a connection between a  Client Program:
pair of processes.  The arguments of main method supply a message and a
 Uses a constructor with host name and port of a server. DNS host name of the server.
 Client creates a socket bound to the host name and server
Socket soc = new Socket(serverIP, serverPort); port 7896.
 It creates a socket associated with a local port and also  Makes DataInputStream and DataOutputStream to read
connect it to the specified remote computer and port no. and write data.
 Throws UnknownHostException if the host name is wrong  Server Program:
and IOException in case of IO error.  Opens a server socket on its server port 7896 and listens
 This class provides two methods for accessing two streams for connect requests.
associated with a socket for reading and writing bytes.  When one arrives, it makes a new thread to communicate
 getInputStream - Returns an InputStream for this socket.
with the client.
 The new thread creates a DataInputStream and
 getOutputStream - Returns an OutputStream for this socket.
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DataOutputStream to read and write data.
TCP client makes connection to server, sends

TCP Communication Example: … request and receives reply
import java.net.*;
 writeUTF / readUTF: as the message is a string, the client and import java.io.*;
server uses this method to write/read data. public class TCPClient {
public static void main (String args[]) {
 UTF-8 encoding represents the string in a particular format. // arguments supply message and hostname of destination
Socket s = null;
 When a process closes its socket, it will no longer be able to try{
int serverPort = 7896;
use its input and output streams. s = new Socket(args[1], serverPort);
DataInputStream in = new DataInputStream( s.getInputStream());
 Existing data can be read from the queue. DataOutputStream out =
new DataOutputStream( s.getOutputStream());
 Any further reads after the queue is empty will result in out.writeUTF(args[0]); // UTF is a string encoding
EOFException. String data = in.readUTF();
System.out.println("Received: "+ data) ;
 Attempts to use a closed socket to write a broken stream }catch (UnknownHostException e){
System.out.println("Sock:"+e.getMessage());
result in an IOException. }catch (EOFException e){System.out.println("EOF:"+e.getMessage());
}catch (IOException e){System.out.println("IO:"+e.getMessage());}
}
finally {if(s!=null) try {s.close();}catch (IOException e){
System.out.println("close:"+e.getMessage());}}
}
Dept. of CSE, Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam 51 } Dept. of CSE, Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam 52

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TCP server makes a connection for each client and

TCP Server …
then echoes the client’s request
import java.net.*; class Connection extends Thread {
DataInputStream in;
import java.io.*;
DataOutputStream out;
public class TCPServer { Socket clientSocket;
public static void main (String args[]) { public Connection (Socket aClientSocket) {
try{ try {
clientSocket = aClientSocket;
int serverPort = 7896;
in = new DataInputStream( clientSocket.getInputStream());
ServerSocket listenSoc = new ServerSocket(serverPort); out =new DataOutputStream( clientSocket.getOutputStream());
while(true) { this.start();
Socket clientSocket = listenSoc.accept(); } catch(IOException e) {System.out.println("Connection:"+e.getMessage());}
}
Connection c = new Connection(clientSocket);
public void run(){
} try { // an echo server
} catch(IOException e) {System.out.println("Listen :"+e.getMessage());} String data = in.readUTF();
} out.writeUTF(data);
} catch(EOFException e) {System.out.println("EOF:"+e.getMessage());
}
} catch(IOException e) {System.out.println("IO:"+e.getMessage());}
// continues on the next slide } finally{ try {clientSocket.close();}catch (IOException e){/*close failed*/}}
}
}
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UDP vs TCP
 Datagram Socket: uses  Stream Socket:
datagrams that may take communication using a
any route to destination. stream of bytes.
 Efficient but suffer from  Reliable, but complex. MULTICAST COMMUNICATION
failures – unreliable.  Use seq. no., ack,
 No ack, no retransmission, retransmission etc for
no seq. no. – out of order reliability. A form of inter process communication in which
delivery.  Uses three way handshake one process in a group of processes transmits the
 Faster, as there is no conn. to establish connection - same message to all members of the group.
establishment slower.
 No flow control and error  Flow and error control
checking. using sliding window and
checksums etc.

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Why Multicast? Multicasting

 Multicast is an important requirement for distributed A multicast is an operation that sends a single
applications. message from one process to each of the members of
 In distributed systems, a service may implemented as a a group of processes,
number of different processes in different computers,  usually in such a way that the membership of the
perhaps to provide fault tolerance or to enhance group is transparent to the sender.
availability.  Its use in DC: Some services are implemented as a number of
 This distribution is transparent, a sender may not be different processes in different computers, to provide fault
knowing the identity of all the receivers. tolerance or to enhance availability. Multicasting suits to pass
messages to such services.
 The pair-wise exchange of messages is not the best
model for communication from one process to a group  The simplest multicast protocol provides no guarantees
of other processes in such a scenario. about message delivery or ordering.
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Multicast Characteristics Multicast Characteristics… contd

 Multicast messages provide a useful infrastructure for  ... characteristics:
constructing distributed systems with characteristics like:  Better performance through replicated data:
 Fault tolerance based on replicated services: » Data are replicated to increase the performance of a
» A replicated service consists of a group of servers. Client service. Sometimes, replicas of the data are placed in
requests are multicast to a group of servers. Even when users’ computers. Each time the data changes, the new
some members fail, clients can still be served. value is multicast to the processes managing the replicas.
 Finding the discovery servers in spontaneous  Propagation of event notifications:
networking: » Multicast to a group may be used to notify processes
» Multicast messages can be used by servers and clients to when something happens.
locate available discovery services in order to register » Eg. in Facebook, when someone changes their status, all
their interfaces or to look up the interfaces of other their friends receive notifications.
services in the distributed system. » Similarly, publish-subscribe protocols may make use of
group multicast to disseminate events to subscribers.

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IP multicast - An implementation of multicast communication IP multicast...

 IP multicast is built on top of the Internet Protocol (IP).  A member of a multicast group can receive IP packets
 IP packets are addressed to computers – ports belong to the sent to the group.
TCP and UDP levels.  The membership of multicast groups is dynamic,
 IP multicast allows the sender to transmit a single IP  computers can join or leave at any time and
packet to a set of computers that form a multicast  can join an arbitrary number of groups.
group.
 Can send datagrams to a multicast group without
 The sender is unaware of the identities of the being a member.
individual recipients and of the size of the group.
 At the API level, IP multicast is available only via UDP.
 A multicast group is specified by a class D Internet
 A program performs multicast by sending UDP datagrams
address with multicast addresses and ordinary port numbers.
 an address whose first 4 bits are 1110 in IPv4.
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IP multicast... IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4

 A program can join a multicast group by making its  Multicast Routers – routers enabled with multicast
socket join the group, enabling it to receive messages support.
to the group.  IP packets can be multicast both on a local network and
 At the IP level, a computer belongs to a multicast group on the Internet.
when one or more of its processes has sockets that belong to  Local multicasts use the multicast capability of the local
that group. network such as an Ethernet (hardware multicast using MAC
 When a multicast message arrives at a computer, address).
 copies are forwarded to all of the local sockets that have  Internet Multicast make use of multicast routers, which
joined the specified multicast address and are bound to forward single datagrams to routers on other networks,
the specified port number. where they are again multicast to local members.
 The distance of propagation is specified in the Time To
Live or TTL.

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IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4 IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4

Multicast Address Allocation: Multicast Address Allocation:
 Class D addresses (224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255) are  Multicast addresses may be permanent or temporary.
reserved for multicast traffic and managed globally.
 Permanent groups exist even when there are no members.
 The management of this address space is reviewed annually.
 Addresses are assigned by IANA and span the various blocks.
 Address Space partitioned into a number of blocks:
 Addresses are reserved for a variety of purposes:
 Local Network Control Block (224.0.0.0 to 224.0.0.225), for
» for specific Internet protocols or
multicast traffic within a given local network.
» for organizations that make heavy use of multicast traffic,
 Internet Control Block (224.0.1.0 to 224.0.1.225).
including multimedia broadcasters and financial institutions.
 Ad Hoc Control Block (224.0.2.0 to 224.0.255.0), for traffic
 224.0.1.1 is reserved for the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
that does not fit any other block.
 Range 224.0.6.000 to 224.0.6.127 in the ad hoc block is
 Administratively Scoped Block (239.0.0.0 to
reserved for the ISIS project.
239.255.255.255), which is used to implement a scoping
mechanism for multicast traffic (to constrain propagation).
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IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4 Failure model for multicast datagrams

Multicast Address Allocation:  IP multicast datagrams suffer from omission failures.
 The remaining multicast addresses are available for use by  have the same failure characteristics as UDP datagrams.
temporary groups.  This is called Unreliable Multicast:
 Must be created before use and cease to exist when all
 It does not guarantee that a message will be delivered to
the members have left. any member of a group.
 A temporary multicast group requires a free multicast address to
 Some, but not all of the members of the group may
avoid accidental participation in an existing group before use
and cease after use. The IP multicast protocol does not directly receive it.
address this issue.
 For local multicast, TTL can be set to a small value, making
collisions with other groups unlikely.

 However, programs using IP multicast throughout the Internet
require a more sophisticated solutions for unique allocations.

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Java API to IP multicast Java API to IP multicast...

 The Java API provides a datagram interface to IP multicast  An application implemented over IP multicast may use
through the class MulticastSocket. more than one port.
 MulticastSocket - Create a multicast socket.  Eg. the MultiTalk [mbone] application
 A subclass of UDP DatagramSocket, with additional capabilities for
» allows groups of users to hold textbased conversations,
joining multicast groups.
has one port for sending and receiving data and
 Either bound to a port or any free local port.
another for exchanging control data.
 joinGroup – method to join a multicast group.
 it will receive datagrams sent by processes on other computers to that
group at that port.  A multicast peer program shown in next slide specify the message
and the multicast address in the arguments to the main method.
 leaveGroup - method to leave a multicast group.
 When several instances of this program are run simultaneously on
 setTimeToLive - Set the default TTL for multicast packets sent out on
different computers, all of them join the same group, and each of
this MulticastSocket in order to control the scope of the multicasts.
them should receive its own message and the messages from those
Default is 1, allowing the multicast to propagate only on the local
that joined after it.
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network.
Multicast peer joins a group and sends and Multicast peer joins a group and sends and receives
receives datagrams datagrams…
 In the example, the arguments to the main method specify a
message to be multicast and the multicast address of a group
(for example, "228.5.6.7").
 After joining that multicast group, the process makes an instance
of DatagramPacket containing the message and sends it through
its multicast socket to the multicast group address at port 6789.
Sending message to group  After that, it attempts to receive three multicast messages from its
peers via its socket, which also belongs to the group on the same
port.
Receiving message  When several instances of this program are run simultaneously on
from group different computers, all of them join the same group, and each of
them should receive its own message and the messages from
those that joined after it.

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Reliability and Ordering Issues Effects of reliability and ordering issues

 The following situations could occur:  Examples of the effects of reliability and ordering:
 Omission failure:  Fault tolerance based on replicated services
» A datagram sent from one multicast router to another may be  A replicated service consists of the members of a group of servers
lost, thus preventing all recipients beyond that router from that start in the same initial state and always perform the same
receiving the message. operations in the same order, so as to remain consistent with one
» Sometimes, any one of the recipients may drop the message another.
because its buffer is full.  In replicated servers, multicast requires that either all or none should
 Process failure – If a multicast router fails, the group members receive the request in the same order to perform an operation to
beyond that router won’t receive the message. remain consistent.
 Ordering issue – The packets could arrive in a different order.  Discovering services in spontaneous networking
» some group members receive datagrams from a single sender in a  A process can discover services by multicasting requests at periodic
different order from other group members. intervals, and the available services will listen for those multicasts and
respond.
» messages sent by two different processes will not necessarily arrive
in the same order at all the members of the group.  An occasional lost request is not an issue when discovering services.
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Effects of reliability and ordering issues... Reliable IP multicast

 Examples of the effects of reliability and ordering:  The examples show that some applications require a
 Better performance through replicated data multicast protocol that is more reliable than IP
 In cases where the replicated data itself, rather than operations on multicast.
the data, are distributed by means of multicast messages, the effect
of lost messages and inconsistent ordering would depend on the  Reliable multicast:
method of replication and the importance of all replicas being totally  must ensure that any message transmitted is either
up-to-date. received by all members of a group or by none of them.
 Propagation of event notifications  Totally Ordered multicast:
 The particular application determines the qualities required of
multicast.  Some applications have very strict and strong requirements
 Eg. Jini lookup services use IP multicast to announce their existence.
for ordering.
 All of the messages transmitted to a group reach all of
the members in the same order.

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Multicast using Overlays

 Multicast is an important requirement for distributed
applications and must be provided even if underlying
support for IP multicast is not available.
 This is typically provided by an overlay network
NETWORK VIRTUALIZATION
constructed on top of the underlying TCP/IP network. Overlay networks
 Overlay networks can also provide support for file
sharing, enhanced reliability and content distribution.
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Network Virtualization: Why? Network Virtualization

 IP protocols, through their API, provides a very effective  Network virtualization deals with the construction of many
set of building blocks for the construction of distributed different virtual networks over an existing network such
software. as the Internet.
 But, Internet is growing with different classes of  Each virtual network can be designed to support a
applications, like peer-to-peer file sharing, Skype, etc., particular distributed application.
which coexist in the Internet.  Eg. One VN might support multimedia streaming, as in BBC
iPlayer, BoxeeTV [boxee.tv] or Hulu [hulu.com], and
 It is impractical to alter the Internet Protocols to suit
 coexist with another that supports a multiplayer online game,
each of the many applications running over them. both running over the same underlying network.
 In addition, the IP transport service is implemented  An application-specific virtual network can be built above
over a large number of network technologies. an existing network and optimized for that particular
 These two factors led to the network virtualization. application, without changing the characteristics of the
underlying network.

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Network Virtualization Overlay Networks

 Network virtualization (NV) is the ability to create  An overlay network is a virtual network consisting of
logical, virtual networks that are decoupled from the nodes and virtual links, which sits on top of an
underlying network hardware to ensure that the underlying network (such as an IP network) and offers
network can better integrate with and support something that is not otherwise provided.
increasingly virtual environments.  A service that is tailored towards the needs of a class of
application or a particular higher-level service
 Computer networks have addressing schemes, protocols » eg. multimedia content distribution.
and routing algorithms.  More efficient operation in a given networked
 Similarly, each virtual network has its own particular environment
addressing scheme, protocols and routing algorithms, » Eg. routing in an ad hoc network
 But these are redefined to meet the needs of particular  An additional feature – like multicast or secure comm.
application classes.  This leads to a wide variety of types of overlays.
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Types of Overlay Types of Overlay… contd

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Advantages of Overlay networks Disadvantages of Overlay networks

 New network services can be defined without  Overlays introduce an extra level of indirection and
changing the underlying network. hence may incur a performance penalty.
 Encourage experimentation with network services and  They add to the complexity of network services when
the customization of services to particular classes of compared to the relatively simple architecture of
application. TCP/IP networks.
 Multiple overlays can be defined and can coexist,
resulting in a more open and extensible network
architecture.
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Overlay Networks…. contd Overlay Networks…. contd

 Overlays can be related to the familiar concept of  Eg., Distributed Hash Tables:
layers.  Introduce a style of addressing based on a keyspace.
 Overlays are layers that exist outside the standard  Build a topology in such a way that
architecture (such as the TCP/IP stack) and exploit the » a node in the topology either owns the key or
resultant degrees of freedom.
» has a link to a node that is closer to the owner
 Overlay developers are free to redefine the core
 This is a style of routing known as key-based routing.
elements of a network, like the mode of addressing, the
protocols employed and the approach to routing.  Most commonly ring topology.
 Introduces radically different approaches more tailored

towards particular application classes of operating  Skype is an example of an overlay network.
environments.

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Skype
 Skype is a peer-to-peer application offering Voice over
IP (VoIP).
 It includes calling, instant messaging, video
CASE STUDY: SKYPE conferencing, file sharing and interfaces to the
standard telephony services through SkypeIn and
SkypeOut.
 SkypeOut: the ability to call landline or mobile phones from
Skype; but this term has been dropped later.
Skype Peer-to-Peer Internet Telephony Protocol  Skype Number (until 2010 named SkypeIn) allows a Skype user
An example of Overlay Network to receive calls to their Skype client (on whatever device) dialed
from mobiles or landlines to a Skype-provided phone number.
 Much of the service is free, but Skype Credit or a subscription is
required to call a landline or a mobile phone number.
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Skype…
 Skype company was created by Niklas Zennström and the
Dane Janus Friis in 2003., acquired by Microsoft in 2011.
 Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn developed the
software, it was same as of Kaaza, a peer-to-peer music
file-sharing application.
 Skype is widely deployed, with millions of users.
 Registered users of Skype are identified by a unique
Skype Name and may be listed in the Skype directory.
 Skype supports conference calls, video chats and screen
sharing between 25 people at a time for free.
 In December 2017, Microsoft added ‘Skype Interviews’,
 a shared code editing system for those wishing to run job
interviews for programming roles.

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Skype as an Overlay Network Skype Overlay Architecture

 Skype is an excellent case study of the use of overlay Three types of entities:
 super nodes
networks in real-world and large-scale systems.
 ordinary nodes (client)
 It indicates how advanced functionality can be provided in an  login server
application-specific manner and without modifiying the core
architecture of the Internet.
 Skype is a virtual network in that it establishes
connections between Skype subscribers who are
currently active.
 No IP address or port is required to establish a call.
 The architecture of the Skype virtual network supporting Skype is
not widely publicized but researchers have studied Skype through a
variety of methods, including traffic analysis.
KTUStudents.in
Skype Architecture Architecture… Super Nodes

 Skype is based on a peer-to-peer infrastructure  A super node is an ordinary host’s end-point on the
consisting of ordinary users’ machines (hosts) and Skype network.
super nodes.  Typically, super nodes maintain an overlay network
 Super Nodes (SN) are ordinary Skype hosts that among themselves, while ordinary nodes pick one (or
happen to have sufficient capabilities to carry out their a small number of) super nodes to associate with.
enhanced role.  Super nodes also function as ordinary nodes and are
 They are selected on demand based on a range of criteria: elected from amongst them based on some criteria.
 bandwidth available,  Ordinary nodes issue queries through the super nodes
 reachability (the machine must have a global IP address they are associated with.
and not be hidden behind a NAT-enabled router) and
 availability (based on the length of time that Skype has
been running continuously on that node).

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Architecture… User Connection Architecture… User Connection

 Users are authenticated via a well-known Login Server.  At first login, the Skype cache is hardcoded with the
 User names and passwords are stored at the login server address/port pairs of around seven super nodes.
to maintain uniqueness across Skype namespace.  Over time the client builds and maintains a much
 The buddy list is also saved here. larger set (perhaps several hundreds) of online Skype
 This is the only central component in Skype network. nodes.
 Online and offline user information is stored and  Skype uses Global indexing, which is guaranteed to
propagated in a decentralized fashion. find a user if that user has logged in the Skype network
 Users then make contact with a selected super node. in the last 72 hours.
 To achieve this, each client builds and maintains a
cache of reachable super nodes.
 (that is, IP address and port number pairs).
This is called Host Cache, stored as an XML file.
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
Architecture… Search for Users Architecture… Voice Connection

 The main goal of super nodes is to perform the efficient  Once the required user is discovered, Skype establishes
search of the global index of users, which is a voice connection between the two parties.
distributed across the super nodes.  It uses TCP for signalling call requests and
 The search is done by the client’s chosen super node terminations.
and involves an expanding search of other super nodes  It uses either UDP or TCP for the streaming audio.
until the specified user is found.  UDP is preferred but TCP, along with an intermediary node, is
 On average, eight super nodes are contacted. used in certain circumstances to circumvent firewalls.
 A user search typically takes between 3 - 4 seconds for  The software used for encoding and decoding audio
hosts that have a global IP and slightly longer, 5 - 6 plays a key part in providing the excellent call quality.
seconds, if behind a NAT-enabled router.
 The associated algorithms are carefully tailored to
 It appears that intermediary nodes involved in the operate in Internet environments at 32 kbps and above.
search cache the results to improve performance.

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Skype Security Policy

 Each caller provides the other with proof of identity and
privileges whenever a session is established.
 Each verifies the other’s proof before the session.
 Uses 256 bit AES to encrypt communication between users.
GROUP COMMUNICATION
 Skype's encryption is inherent in the Skype Protocol and is  Examine group communication as an indirect
transparent to callers. communication paradigm.
 When calling a telephone or mobile, the part of the call
over the PSTN is not encrypted.
 Skype is not considered to be a secure VoIP system as
 the calls made over the network do not make use of end-
to-end encryption, allowing for routine monitoring by

Microsoft and by government agencies.
KTUStudents.in
Indirect Communication Indirect Communication…

 It is defined as communication between entities in a It is often used in distributed systems where change is
distributed system through an intermediary with no anticipated, like
direct coupling between the sender and the receiver(s).  Mobile environments where users may rapidly
 Space uncoupling – senders may know about the identity connect to and disconnect from the global network.
of the receivers or vice versa.  Event dissemination where the receivers may be
» Participants can be replaced, updated, replicated or unknown and liable to change.
migrated.
 Time uncoupling - the sender and receiver(s) can have Group Communication is an indirect communication
independent lifetimes. paradigm.
» They need not exist at the same time to communicate.  Communication is via a group abstraction with the
» Can have more volatile environments where senders and sender unaware of the identity of the recipients.
receivers may come and go.

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Space and Time coupling Space and Time coupling in IP multicast

 IP multicast is space-uncoupled but time-coupled.
 space-uncoupled, because messages are directed towards
the multicast group, not any particular receiver.
 time-coupled, though, as all receivers must exist at the time
of the message send to receive the multicast.
 Publish-subscribe systems, also fall into this category.
 Persistency in communication channel is important to
achieve time uncoupling.
 Disadvantages:  the communication paradigm must store messages so that
 Inevitable performance overhead introduced by the added level of they can be delivered when the receiver(s) is ready to
indirection.
receive.
 Such systems are more difficult to manage because of the lack of
any direct (space or time) coupling.  IP multicast does not support this level of persistency.
KTUStudents.in
Group Communication Importance of Group Communication

 Group communication offers a service whereby a  It is an important building block for reliable distributed systems,
message is sent to a group and then this message is with key areas of application including:
delivered to all members of the group.  the reliable dissemination of information to potentially large
numbers of clients, including in the financial industry, where
 The sender is not aware of the identities of the receivers. institutions require accurate and up-to-date access to a wide
 It represents an abstraction over multicast comm. and variety of information sources.
may be implemented over IP multicast or an equivalent  support for collaborative applications, where events must be
overlay network. disseminated to multiple users to preserve a common user view –
eg. in multiuser games.
 adds significant extra value in terms of managing group
membership, detecting failures and providing reliability  a range of fault-tolerance strategies, including the consistent
and ordering guarantees. update of replicated data or the implementation of highly
available (replicated) servers.
 With the added guarantees, group communication is to  support for system monitoring and management, including
IP multicast what TCP is to the point-to-point service in IP. load balancing strategies.

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Group Comm. - Programming Model

 A group with associated group membership, whereby
processes may join or leave the group.
 Processes can then send a message to this group and
have it propagated to all members of the group with  Communication to a single process is known as unicast.
certain guarantees in terms of reliability and ordering.  Communication to all processes in the system, (not a subgroup of
them), is known as broadcast.
 Thus, group comm. implements multicast communication,
 Multicast allows transmission to a subset of hosts, spreading
in which a message is sent to all the members of the across arbitrary physical networks throughout the internet.
group by a single operation.  Subset is known as a multicast group.
 A process issues only one multicast operation to send a
 A single send operation results in
message to each in a group of processes instead of
copies of the data being delivered to
issuing multiple send operations to individual processes. many receivers.
 Copies created at every branching.
KTUStudents.in
Advantages of Multicasting Advantages… Eg. Multicasting vs Unicast

 Single multicast operation instead of multiple send offers  Compare the bandwidth utilization and the total transmission
much more than a convenience for the programmer. time when sending the same message from a computer in London
to two computers on the same Ethernet in Palo Alto.
 In Java, this operation is aGroup.send(aMessage))
 (a) by two separate UDP sends
 Efficient in its utilization of bandwidth.
 Two copies of the message are sent independently, the second
 It can take steps to send the message over any message is delayed by the first.
communication link, by sending it over a distribution tree;  (b) by a single IP multicast operation
 and it can use network hardware support for multicast  Here, a set of multicast aware routers forward a single copy of
where this is available. the message from London to a router on the destination LAN in
 Can minimize the total time taken to deliver the message California.
to all destinations, as compared with transmitting it  That router then uses hardware multicast (provided by the
separately and serially. Ethernet) to deliver the message to both destinations at once,
instead of sending it twice.
 This saves bandwidth and time.

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Advantages of Multicasting … Process groups and Object groups

 Reliability and Ordering: The use of a single multicast  Group services mostly focuses on process groups
operation is also important in terms of delivery guarantees. concept - groups where the communicating entities are
 If a process issues multiple independent send operations to processes.
individual processes, there is no way to provide guarantees  Such services are relatively low-level in that:
that affect the group of processes as a whole.
 Messages are delivered to processes and no further
 If the sender fails halfway through sending, then some
support for dispatching is provided.
members of the group may receive the message while
 Messages are typically unstructured byte arrays with
others do not.
 In addition, the relative ordering of two messages
no support for marshalling of complex data types.
delivered to any two group members is undefined.  The level of service provided is therefore similar to
 Group communication has the potential to offer a range of sockets.
guarantees in terms of reliability and ordering.  In contrast, object groups provide a higher-level
approach to group computing.
KTUStudents.in
Process groups and Object groups … Closed and Open groups

 An object group is a collection of objects (instances of  A group is said to be closed if only
the same class) that process the same set of invocations members of the group may multicast to it.
concurrently, with each returning responses.  A process in a closed group delivers to itself
 Client objects need not be aware of the replication. any message that it multicasts to the group.
 Eg. for cooperating servers to send
 They invoke operations on a single, local object, which acts
as a proxy for the group. messages to one another that only they
should receive.
 The proxy uses a group communication to send the
invocations to the members of the object group.
 A group is open if processes outside the
 Object parameters and results are marshalled and the
group may send to it.
associated calls are dispatched automatically to the right
destination objects/methods.  Eg. for delivering events to groups of
interested processes.
 However, process groups still dominate in terms of usage.

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Overlapping and Non-overlapping groups Implementation Issues

 In overlapping groups, entities (processes or objects)  This topic discusses the properties of the underlying
may be members of multiple groups. multicast service in terms of reliability and ordering
 Non-overlapping groups imply that membership does and
not overlap (any process belongs to at most one group).  also the key role of group membership management
 Note that in real-life systems, it is realistic to expect that in dynamic environments, where processes can join
group membership will overlap. and leave or fail at any time.
 Synchronous and asynchronous systems:
 There is a requirement to consider group communication in
both environments.
 The above distinctions can have a significant impact on

the underlying multicast algorithms.
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Reliability and ordering in multicast Reliability and ordering in multicast …

 In group communication, all members of a group must  Reliability in group communication - three properties:
receive copies of the messages sent to the group, with  Integrity - delivering the message correctly at most
delivery guarantees. once
 The guarantees include agreement on the » (the message received is the same as the one sent, and
 set of messages that every process in the group should no messages are delivered twice)
receive and  Validity - any outgoing message is eventually
 on the delivery ordering across the group members. delivered.
 Group communication systems are extremely  To extend the semantics to cover delivery to multiple
sophisticated. receivers, a third property is added.
 Even IP multicast, which provides minimal delivery  Agreement - if the message is delivered to one
guarantees, requires a major engineering effort. process, then it is delivered to all processes in the
group.

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Reliability and ordering in multicast … Group membership management

 Group communication demands extra guarantees in terms of the  The role of group membership management
relative ordering of messages delivered to multiple destinations.
 Messages may be subject to arbitrary delays, to counter this,
group comm. services offer ordered multicast.
 FIFO ordering: or source ordering preserves the order from the
perspective of a sender process, if it sends one message before
another, it will be delivered in this order at all processes in the group.
 Causal ordering: It considers causal relationships between
messages, if a message happens before another message in the
distributed system, this so-called causal relationship will be preserved
in the delivery of the associated messages at all processes (‘happens
before’).
 Total ordering: In total ordering, if a message is delivered before
another message at one process, then the same order will be
preserved at all processes.
KTUStudents.in
Group membership management… Group membership management…

 Fig. has an open group, which shows the key elements of  2. Failure detection:
group communication management.  The service monitors the group members in case of crash, or
 This illustrates the important role of group membership they become unreachable because of a communication failure.
management in maintaining an accurate view of the  The detector marks processes as Suspected or Unsuspected.
current membership, given that entities may join, leave or  The service uses the failure detector to reach a decision about
indeed fail. the group’s membership: it excludes a process from membership
 A group membership service has four main tasks: if it is suspected to have failed or became unreachable.
 1. Providing an interface for group membership changes:
 The membership service provides operations to create and  3. Notifying members of group membership changes:
destroy process groups and to add or withdraw a process to  The service notifies the group’s members when a process is
or from a group. added, or when a process is excluded (through failure or when
 In most systems like IP multicast, a single process may belong to the process is deliberately withdrawn from the group).
several groups at the same time (overlapping groups).

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Group membership management… Implementation Issues …

 4. Performing group address expansion:  IP multicast is a weak case of a group membership
 When a process multicasts a message, it supplies the group service, with some but not all of these properties.
identifier rather than a list of processes in the group.  It does allow processes to join or leave groups
 The membership management service expands the identifier dynamically and
into the current group membership for delivery.
 it performs address expansion, so that senders need
 The service can coordinate multicast delivery with
only provide a single IP multicast address as the
membership changes by controlling address expansion.
destination for a multicast message.
 That is, it can decide consistently where to deliver any given
message, even though the membership may be changing during  But IP multicast does not itself provide group members
delivery. with information about current membership, and multicast
delivery is not coordinated with membership changes.
 Achieving these properties is complex and requires what
is known as view-synchronous group communication.
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Implementation Issues …
 In general, the need to maintain group membership has a
significant impact on the utility of group-based approaches.
 Group communication is most effective in small-scale and
static systems and does not operate as well in larger-scale REMOTE PROCEDURE CALL
or volatile environments.
Illustrate the Remote Procedure Call mechanism
 This can be traced to the need for a form of synchrony
Illustrate Sun RPC
assumption.
 A more probabilistic approach to group membership
designed to operate in more large-scale and dynamic
environments is using an underlying gossip protocol.
 Researchers have also developed group membership
protocols specifically for ad hoc networks and mobile
environments.

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Introduction RPC
 Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is a remote invocation  Allows client programs to call procedures transparently
paradigm. in server programs, running in separate processes and
 This concept was first introduced by Birrell and Nelson generally in different computers other than the client.
[1984] and paved the way for many of the developments in  The underlying RPC system hides important aspects of
distributed systems programming used today. distribution, including
 RPC helps achieving a high level of distribution  the encoding and decoding of parameters and
transparency in a simple manner, results,
 by extending the abstraction of a procedure call to  the passing of messages and
distributed environments,
 the preserving of the required semantics for the
 allowing a calling process to call a procedure in a remote
procedure call.
node as if it is local.
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Design issues for RPC Programming with Interfaces

Three design issues:  Modern programs can be organized as a set of modules
 The style of programming promoted by RPC –
that can communicate with one another.
programming with interfaces  Communication can be by procedure calls between modules
or by direct access to the variables in another module.
 The call semantics associated with RPC
 To control the possible interactions between modules, an
 The key issue of transparency and how it relates to
explicit interface is defined for each module.
RPC
 The interface specifies the procedures and the variables
that can be accessed from other modules.
 It hides the module implementation details from the client.
 So long as its interface remains the same, the
implementation may be changed without affecting the
users of the module.

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Interfaces in distributed systems Interfaces in distributed systems …

 In a distr. program, the modules run in separate processes.  A client module in one process cannot access the variables
 A service interface is the specification of the procedures of a module in another process. Therefore the service
offered by a server, defining the types of the arguments of interface cannot specify direct access to variables, instead
each of the procedures. use getter/setter methods.
 Benefits of separating interface and implementation:  Local parameter-passing mechanisms like call by value and
 Programmers are concerned only with the interface abstraction call by reference are not suitable when the caller and
and need not be aware of implementation details. procedure are in different processes. Rather, the procedure
 Need not know the programming language or platform used to description in the interface describes the parameters as
implement the service (managing heterogeneity). input or output, or sometimes both.
 Implementations can change as long as long as the interface  Input parameters are passed to the remote server by sending the
(the external view) remains the same. values of the arguments in the request message and then
supplying them as arguments to the operation to be executed in
» The interface can also change as long as it remains compatible
with the original. the server.
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Interfaces in distributed systems … Interface Definition Languages (IDL)

 Output parameters are returned in the reply message and are  Can use any programming language to implement
used as the result of the call or to replace the values of the RPC, if it includes an adequate notation for defining
corresponding variables in the calling environment.
interfaces.
 When a parameter is used for both input and output, the value
must be transmitted in both the request and reply messages.
 This allows input and output parameters to be mapped
onto the language’s normal use of parameters.
 Call by reference is not possible, why?:
 Convenient as it allows the programmer to use a single
 Another difference between local and remote modules is
that addresses in one process are not valid in a remote
language, eg. Java, for local and remote invocation.
one. Therefore, addresses cannot be passed as arguments  Many existing useful services are written in C++, etc.
or returned as results of calls to remote modules.  It would be beneficial to allow programs written in a
 Interface definition languages takes care of these variety of languages, including Java, to access them
constraints. remotely.

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Interface Definition Languages (IDL)… CORBA IDL Example

 IDLs are designed to allow procedures implemented in // In file Person.idl
CORBA has a struct
different languages to invoke one another. struct Person {
 An IDL provides a notation for defining interfaces in string name;
which each parameter is described as for input or string place;
output, and also its type. long year;
 Eg. of a CORBA IDL:
}; remote interface
 Person structure: the interface PersonList specifies the methods remote interface defines
available for RMI in a remote object that implements that
interface PersonList { methods for RMI
interface. The method addPerson specifies its argument as in, readonly attribute string listname;
an input argument, and the method getPerson that retrieves void addPerson (in Person p) ;
an instance of Person by name specifies its second argument void getPerson (in string name, out Person p);
as out, an output argument. long number();
}; parameters are in, out or inout
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Interface Definition Languages (IDL)… RPC call semantics

 Remote interface: specifies the methods of an object
available for remote invocation  In Request-reply protocols, the doOperation can be
 IDL concept was initially developed for RPC systems but implemented in different ways to provide different
applies to RMI and also web services. delivery guarantees.
 Some examples of IDL include:  Retry request message: Controls whether to retransmit the
 Sun XDR as an IDL for RPC request message until either a reply is received or the
server is assumed to have failed (time outs).
 CORBA IDL as an IDL for RMI
 Duplicate filtering: Controls when retransmissions are used
 Web Services Description Language (WSDL), which is
and whether to filter out duplicate requests at the server.
designed for an Internet-wide RPC supporting web
services.  Retransmission of results: Controls whether to keep a
history of result messages to enable lost results to be
 Protocol Buffers used at Google for storing and
retransmitted without re-executing the operations at the
interchanging many kinds of structured information.
server.

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RPC call semantics… RPC call semantics… MayBe Semantics

 Combinations of these choices lead to different semantics  Here, the RPC may be executed once or not at all.
for the reliability of remote invocations.  This happens when no fault-tolerance measures are applied.
 Suffer from the following types of failures:
 Omission failures if the request or result message is lost.
» If the request was lost, then the procedure will not have been executed.
» If the result was not received after a timeout and there are no retries, it is
uncertain whether the procedure has been executed.
» Or, the procedure may have been executed and the result was lost.
 Crash failures when the server fails.
» A crash may occur either before or after the procedure is executed.
 Fig. shows the choices with the corresponding semantics.
» In an asynchronous system, the result of executing the procedure may
 Note: For local procedure calls, the semantics are exactly once, arrive after the timeout.
meaning that every procedure is executed exactly once (except in  Maybe semantics is useful only for applications in which
the case of process failure). occasional failed calls are acceptable.
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RPC call… At-least-once semantics RPC call… At-least-once semantics…

 Here, the invoker receives either a result, in which case  An idempotent operation is one that can be performed
the the procedure was executed at least once, repeatedly with the same effect as if it had been
 or an exception informing it that no result was received. performed exactly once.
 This semantics can be achieved by the retransmission of  Non-idempotent operations can have the wrong effect
request messages, which masks the omission failures of if they are performed more than once.
the request or result message.  Eg. an operation to increase a bank balance by $10 should be
performed only once; if it were to be repeated, the balance
 Can suffer from the following types of failures:
would grow and grow!
 Crash failures when the server fails;
 If the operations can be designed so that all of the
 Arbitrary failures – in cases when the request message is
procedures in their service interfaces are idempotent
retransmitted, the remote server may receive it and operations, then at-least-once call semantics may be
execute the procedure more than once, possibly acceptable.
causing wrong values to be stored or returned.

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RPC call… At-most-once semantics… Transparency

 Here, the caller receives either a result, in which case the  Aim was to make RPC as much like local procedure calls
procedure was executed exactly once, as possible, with no distinction in syntax.
 or an exception informing it that no result was received, in  All the necessary calls to marshalling and message-
which case the procedure will have been executed either passing procedures were hidden from the caller.
once or not at all.
 Retransmission of request messages are transparent to
 At-most-once semantics can be achieved by using all of the
the caller to make the semantics similar.
fault-tolerance measures.
 RPC strives to offer at least location and access
 The use of retries masks any omission failures of the
request or result messages. transparency,
 This set of fault tolerance measures prevents arbitrary  hiding the physical location of the procedure and
failures by ensuring that a procedure is never executed  accessing local and remote procedures in the same way.
more than once.  Middleware can also offer additional levels of transparency
Sun RPC provides at-least-once call semantics. to RPC.
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
Transparency… Transparency…
 RPC calls are more vulnerable to failure than local ones, since  Remote calls require a different style of parameter passing.
they involve a network, another computer and another process.  RPC does not offer call by reference.
 Sometimes, no result will be received, it is impossible to distinguish
between network failure and remote server process failure.  Some others claim that the difference between local and remote
 This requires that clients making remote calls are able to recover operations should be expressed at the service interface, to allow
from such situations. participants to react in a consistent way to possible partial
failures.
 The latency is several orders of magnitude greater than that of  Some arguments are that the syntax of a remote call should be
a local one, so minimize remote interactions. different from that of a local call: in the case of Argus, the
 A caller should be able to abort a remote call that is taking too language was extended to make remote operations explicit to
long in such a way that it has no effect on the server. the programmer.
 To allow this, the server would need to be able to restore things  The choice as to whether RPC should be transparent is also
to how they were before the procedure was called. available to the designers of IDLs.

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Transparency… External Data Representation

 Eg., in some IDLs, a remote invocation may throw an exception  The information stored in running programs is represented as
when the client is unable to communicate with a remote data structures, whereas the information in messages
procedure. consists of sequences of bytes.
 The client program must be able to handle such exceptions,
 The data structures must be flattened (converted to a
allowing it to deal with such failures. sequence of bytes) before transmission and rebuilt on arrival.
 An IDL can provide a facility for specifying the call semantics of
 Not all computers store primitive values such as integers in
a procedure, so that the designer can choose the required
semantics.
the same order. There are two variants:
 The current consensus is that remote calls should be made
 Big-endian – the most significant byte comes first
transparent in the sense that  Little-endian – the most significant byte comes last
 the syntax of a remote call is the same as that of a local  The set of codes used to represent characters:
invocation,  ASCII – one byte per character
 but that the difference between local and remote calls should  Unicode – two bytes per character to present texts in different
be expressed in their interfaces.
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languages
External Data Representation… Marshalling and Unmarshalling

 Two methods can be used to exchange binary data  Marshalling:
values between two systems:  It is the process of taking a collection of data items
 The values are converted to a agreed external format and assembling them into a form suitable for
before transmission and back to the local form on transmission in a message.
receipt.  It involves data translation to an external data
 No conversion needed if the two systems are of same type. representation.
 The values are transmitted in the sender’s format,  Unmarshalling:
together with an indication of the format used, and  It is the process of disassembling them on arrival to
the recipient converts the values if necessary. produce an equivalent data items at the destination.
 An agreed standard for the representation of data  It involves generation of primitive values from their
structures and primitive values is called an external external data representation and the rebuilding of the
data representation. data structures.

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Implementation of RPC Implementation of RPC…

 Building blocks – Client process and Server process  The software components required to implement RPC:
 Communication module
 The client that accesses a service includes one client
 Client stub procedure: marshalling, sending, unmarshalling
 Dispatcher: will select one of the server stub procedures stub procedure for each procedure in the service
 Server stub procedure: unmarshalling, calling, marshalling interface.
 The stub behaves like a local procedure to the client,
but instead of executing the call,
client process server process
 it marshals the procedure identifier and the
Request
arguments into a request message, and
Reply  it sends via its communication module to the server.
client stub server stub
procedure procedure
client service  When the reply message arrives,
program Communication Communication procedure
module module dispatcher  it unmarshals the results.
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Implementation of RPC… Implementation of RPC…

The server process contains a dispatcher, one server  RPC is generally implemented over a request-reply protocol.
stub procedure and one service procedure for each  Figure shows this based on three communication primitives :
procedure in the service interface.  doOperation, getRequest, and sendReply
 The dispatcher selects one of the server stub
 The doOperation method is used by clients to invoke remote operations.
 After sending the request, doOperation invokes receive to wait for a reply
procedures according to the procedure identifier in the message.
request message.  getRequest is used by a server process to acquire service requests.
 The server stub procedure then unmarshals the  When the server has invoked the method in the specified object, it then uses
sendReply to send the reply to the client.
arguments in the request message, calls the
 When the reply is
corresponding service procedure and marshals the received by the client,
return values for the reply message. the doOperation is
unblocked.
 The service procedures implement the procedures in
the service interface.

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Implementation of RPC… Sun RPC Case Study (RFC 1831)

 The contents of request and reply messages are:  Designed for client-server communication in the Sun
Network File System (NFS).
 message identifier: (unique
sequential req id + sender id)  Also called ONC (Open Network Computing) RPC.
 remote object reference  Supplied as a part of Sun and other UNIX OS and is
 the id of the method to be
invoked, specified in interface
also available with NFS installations.
 parameters to be transmitted.  Can be implemented over either TCP or UDP.
 Server copies these req ID into the corresponding reply messages.  With UDP, messages are restricted in length – theoretically
 RPC can have any one of the invocation semantics: to 64 kilobytes, but in practice to 8 or 9 kilobytes.
at-least-once or at-most-once is generally chosen.  It uses atleast- once call semantics.
 To achieve this, the communication module will implement the desired  Broadcast RPC is an option.
design choices in terms of retransmission of requests, dealing with
duplicates and retransmission of results.
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Sun RPC Case Study… Sun XDR Sun RPC Case Study… Sun XDR
 RPC uses an interface definition language called XDR.  A procedure definition specifies a procedure signature and
 Has an interface compiler called rpcgen, for C lang. a procedure number (a procedure identifier in request)
 Sun XDR is used to define a service interface for Sun RPC  Only a single input parameter is allowed.
 by specifying a set of procedure definitions together with  multiple parameters must be used as components of a single
supporting type definitions. structure.
 The notation is rather primitive than CORBA IDL or Java.
 The output parameters of a procedure are returned via a
single result.
 No Interface name: Instead, uses a program number and
 The procedure signature consists of the result type,
version number, passed with request message, so that the
client and server can check that they are using the same version. procedure name and the type of the input parameter.
 The program nos can be obtained from a central authority to
 The type of both the result and the input parameter may
allow every program to have its own unique number. specify either a single value or a structure containing several
values.
 The version no is intended to be changed when a procedure
signature changes.

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Files Interface in Sun XDR Files Interface in Sun XDR…

const MAX = 1000;  Shows an interface with two procedures - to read and
struct readargs {
typedef int FileIdentifier; write files.
FileIdentifier f;
typedef int FilePointer; FilePointer position;  Program no: 9999, version no: 2
typedef int Length; Length length;  Read and write are given numbers 1 and 2
struct Data { };  READ: line 2

int length;  Input parameters: a structure with three components -
program FILEREADWRITE {
char buffer[MAX]; version VERSION { file identifier, position in the file, no of bytes required
}; void WRITE(writeargs)=1; 1  Result: structure with no of bytes returned and file data
struct writeargs { Data READ(readargs)=2; 2  WRITE: line 1, No result.
FileIdentifier f; }=2;  The number 0 reserved for a null procedure to test
FilePointer position; } = 9999;
Data data; whether server is available.
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};
Files Interface in Sun XDR… Sun RPC Case Study… Binding

 This IDL provides a notation for defining constants,  Sun RPC runs a local binding service called the port
typedefs, structures, enums, unions and programs. mapper at a well-known port no. on each computer.
 Typedefs, structures and enumerated types use the C  Port mapper records the program no., version no. and
language syntax. port no. in use by each service running locally.
 Uses the interface compiler rpcgen to generate the  When a server starts up it registers its program no.,
RPC components from an interface definition: version no. and port no. with the local port mapper.
 client stub procedures  When a client starts up, it finds out the server’s port by
 server main procedure, dispatcher and server stub making a remote request to the port mapper at the
procedures server’s host, specifying the program no. and version no.
 XDR marshalling and unmarshalling procedures for use  Multiple instances of a service may use different port
by the dispatcher and client / server stub procedures nos for receiving client requests.

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Sun RPC Case Study… Binding… Sun RPC Case Study… Authentication
 A client cannot use a direct IP multicast message to  RPC request and reply messages has fields for
multicast a request to all the instances of a service that authentication between client and server.
are using different port numbers.  The request contains the credentials of the client.
 The solution is that clients make multicast RPC by  Eg. the uid and gid of the user.
multicasting them to all the port mappers, specifying  Access control mechanisms can be made available to
the program and version number. the server procedures via a second argument.
 Each port mapper forwards all such calls to the  The server is enforces access control by deciding
appropriate local service program, if there is one. whether to execute each procedure call according to
the authentication information.
 Eg., if the server is an NFS file server, it can check whether
the user has sufficient rights to do a file operation.
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Sun RPC Case Study… Authentication… RPC vs RMI

 Several different authentication protocols can be  Remote procedure call (RPC)
supported.  Allows client programs to call procedures in server programs
 No authentication. running on different processes or machines.
 RPC’s Service interface:
 UNIX style.
 Specification of the procedures of the server, defining the
 A style in which a shared key is established for signing the types of the input and output arguments of each procedure.
RPC messages.
 Remote method invocation (RMI)
 Kerberos - using tokens.
 Allows an object living in one process to invoke the methods of
 A field in the RPC header indicates which style is being an object living in other process.
used.  RMI’s Remote interface:
 Specification of the methods of an object that are available
for objects in other processes, defining the types of them.
 May pass objects or remote object references as arguments or
returned result.

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Local and Remote Method Invocations Local and Remote Invocations …

 Object oriented program consists of a collection of
interacting objects, encapsulating of data and a set of
methods.
 Object communicates with other objects by invoking their  Objects that can receive remote invocations are called remote
methods by passing arguments and receiving results. objects, eg. B & F
 All objects can receive local invocations from other objects that
 In a distributed environment, the objects may be physically
hold references to them. (C must have reference to E).
distributed in different processes or computers.  Remote Object Reference:
 For a distributed system, the objects data should be  Other objects can invoke the methods of a remote object if they
accessed only via its methods. have access to its remote object reference
 Eg. Remote obj ref to B must be available to A
 Method invocations between objects in different processes
 Remote Interface:
are known as remote method invocations.
 Specifies the methods of an object that are available for
 Otherwise local method invocations (objects in same process). invocation by remote objects in other processes.
 Eg. B and F must have remote interfaces
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 Has exactly once semantics.
Summary Text Books

Learnt the different Communication Paradigms:  1. George Coulouris, Jean Dollimore and Tim Kindberg ,
 Inter process communication: Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design, Fifth Edition,
 IPC Characteristics Pearson Education, 2011
 Multicast Communication  Website: http://www.cdk5.net/wp/
 Network Virtualization  2. Pradeep K Sinha, Distributed Operating Systems:

Concepts and Design, Prentice Hall of India
 Case study: Skype
References:
 Indirect communication:
 1. A S Tanenbaum and M V Steen , Distributed Systems:
 Group communication
Principles and paradigms, Pearson Education, 2007
 Remote Invocation:  2. M Solomon and J Krammer, Distributed Systems and
 Remote Procedure call Computer Networks, PHI

43
20-Oct-18
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Dept. of CSE, Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam 173

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20-Oct-18

Objectives and Outcome

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Middleware Layers The Characteristics of IPC

Sync. and Async. Communication Synchronous Communication

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Asynchronous Communication Asynchronous Communication…

Message Destinations – IP+Port No. Location Transparency

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 Integrity: messages must arrive uncorrupted and

 IPC consists of transmitting a message between a socket in

 Any number of processes may send messages to the same port.

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Java API for Internet Addresses

API to UDP - Overview UDP Communication

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Issues in UDP Communication Issues in UDP Communication…

Issues in UDP Communication… Issues in UDP Communication…

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Issues in UDP Communication… Failure Model for UDP Datagrams

Uses of UDP Java API for UDP Datagrams

 latency for the sender.

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TCP Communication TCP Communication…

TCP… Establishing a Connection: TCP… Establishing a Connection: …

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TCP… Establishing a Connection: … TCP… Outstanding Issues:

TCP… Outstanding Issues: TCP Failure Model

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TCP Failure Model… Uses of TCP

class – a socket to use for communicating with the

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Java API for TCP Streams… TCP Communication Example:

TCP client makes connection to server, sends

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TCP server makes a connection for each client and

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Why Multicast? Multicasting

Multicast Characteristics Multicast Characteristics… contd

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IP multicast - An implementation of multicast communication IP multicast...

IP multicast... IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4

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IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4 IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4

IP multicast... Multicast support in IPv4 Failure model for multicast datagrams

collisions with other groups unlikely.

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Java API to IP multicast Java API to IP multicast...

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Reliability and Ordering Issues Effects of reliability and ordering issues

Effects of reliability and ordering issues... Reliable IP multicast

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Multicast using Overlays

Network Virtualization: Why? Network Virtualization

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Network Virtualization Overlay Networks

Types of Overlay Types of Overlay… contd

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Advantages of Overlay networks Disadvantages of Overlay networks

Overlay Networks…. contd Overlay Networks…. contd

 Introduces radically different approaches more tailored