BHARTIYA INSTITUTE OF ENGG.

& TECHNOLOGY Department of Computer Science 8CS3 Computer Science

CHAPTER 1

Distributed System: Definition

A distributed system is a piece of software that ensures that:
1. A collection of independent computers that appears to its users as a single coherent

system Two aspects: (1) Independent computers and (2) Single system - middleware..
2. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate

through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal. A computer program that runs in a distributed system is called a distributed program, and distributed programming is the process of writing such programs.
3. A distributed system consists of a collection of autonomous computers, connected

through a network and distribution middleware, which enables computers to coordinate their activities and to share the resources of the system, so that users perceive the system as a single, integrated computing facility.

Mahesh Kumar Chouhan,( A.P. Dept of CSE)

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Examples
The world wide web information, resource sharing Clusters, Network of workstations Distributed manufacturing system (e.g., automated assembly line) Network of branch office computers -Information system to handle automatic processing of orders Network of embedded systems New Cell processor (PlayStation 3)

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages Economics

Speed Inherent distribution Reliability Incremental growth

Disadvantages Software Network

More components to fail

Security

2. Features of distributed system

The main features of a distributed system includes 2.1. Functional Separation Based on the functionality/services provided capability and purpose of each entity in the systems. 2.2. Inherent distribution Entities such as information, people, and systems are inherently distributed. For example, different information is created and maintained by different people. This information could be generated, stored, analyzed and used by different systems or applications which may or may not be aware of the existence of the other entities in the system.

2.3. Reliability Long -term data preservation and backup (replication) at different locations.
Mahesh Kumar Chouhan,( A.P. Dept of CSE) Chapter 1 Page2/4

2.4. Scalability Addition of more resources to increase performance or availability. 2.5. Economy Sharing of resources by many entities to help reduce the cost of ownership. As a consequence of these features, the various entities in a distributed system can operate concurrently and possibly autonomously. Tasks are carried out independently and actions are co-ordinated at well-defined stages by exchanging messages. Also, entities are heterogenous, and failures are independent. Generally, there is no single process, or entity, that has the knowledge of the entire state of the system

3. Distributed system nodes

If the network in question is a distributed system, the nodes are clients, servers or peers. A peer may sometimes serve as client, sometimes server. In a peer-to-peer or overlay network, nodes that actively route data for the other networked devices as well as themselves are called super nodes. Distributed systems may sometimes use virtual nodes so that the system is not oblivious to the heterogeneity of the nodes.

4.Transparency

Goal motivated by the desire to hide all irrelevant system-dependent details from the user, whenever possible. It is more important in distributed systems due to higher implementation complexities. Shielding the system-dependent information from the users is a trade-off between simplicity and effectiveness. Access transparency - accessing both local and remote system objects in a uniform way. Location transparency - no awareness of object locations. Sometimes called name transparency. Migration transparency - ability to move an object to a different location without changing its name; also called location independence. Concurrency transparency - allow the sharing of objects without interference. Replication transparency - consistency of multiple instances (or partitioning) of files and data. Parallelism transparency - parallel activities without users knowing how, when and where. Failure transparency - fault tolerance. Performance transparency - attempts to achieve a consistent and predictable performance level even with changes of the system structure or load distribution.
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Mahesh Kumar Chouhan,( A.P. Dept of CSE)

9. 10.

Size transparency - modularity and scalability. Revision transparency - vertical growth of the system.

Mahesh Kumar Chouhan,( A.P. Dept of CSE)

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