Introduction

Dr Simon Blake

Topics for this lecture

The course structure Assessment Topic list and overview Key concepts
Transparency Openness Scalability

Distributed System Overview

The course
DIS unit structure
100% formal lecture

This course has a flexible schedule each week

Lectures can vary from 1 hour to over 4 hours Budget your time accordingly DIS unit structure
50% exam 50% coursework

Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements and kind thanks for their wonderful book to: G.Coulouris, J.Dollimore, T.Kindberg
Lots of material and examples are based on this book the following book It is essential ready for you all
ISBN 0321263545 Author G.Coulouris, J.Dollimore, T.Kindberg Date 2005 Title Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design, 4rd edition Publisher Addison Wesley (14 Jun 2005)

Other useful texts

ISBN 007 709583 9 0-07-709076-4 0-7645-0308-1 0-13-750035-1 Author W.Buchanan E.Simon J.Schettino A.Umar Date 2000 1996 1998 1997 Title Distributed Systems and Networks Distributed Information Systems: from Client/Server to Distributed Multimedia Corba for Dummies Application (Re) Engineering: Building Web-based applications and Dealing with Legacies Concurrent Systems: An integrated Approach to Operating Systems, Databases and Distributed Systems, 2nd edition Distributed Operating Systems Object-Oriented Client/server Internet Environments Client/Server Programming with Java and Corba, 2nd edition. (Includes CD-ROM with Visigenic's Corba implementation 'Visibroker') Publisher McGraw-Hill McGraw-Hill IDG Books Prentice-Hall

0-201-41677-8

J.Bacon

1998

Addison Wesley Prentice Hall Prentice Hall John Wiley

0-13-143934-0 0-13-375544-4 0-471-24578-X

A.S.Tanenbaum A.Umar R.Orfali, D.Harkey

1995 1997 1998

A distributed system
Definition:
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.
Wolfgang Emmerich, 1997

A distributed system
Definition:
A Distributed System (DS) consists of a collection of autonomous computers linked by a computer network and equipped with DS software. DS software enables computers to coordinate their activities and to share the resources of the system - hardware, software and data. Users of a DS should perceive a single, integrated computing facility even though it may be implemented by many computers in different locations.
Coulouris et a, 2005

A non-distributed system
Characteristics of a non-distributed system
One component with non-autonomous parts Component shared by users all the time All resources accessible Software runs in a single process Single Point of control Single Point of failure
Wolfgang Emmerich, 1997

A distributed system
Characteristics of distributed system
Multiple autonomous components Components are not shared by all users Resources may not be accessible Software runs in concurrent processes on different processors Multiple Points of control Multiple Points of failure
Wolfgang Emmerich, 1997

A distributed system
Technological enablers of modern DS
Before the mid 80s
Most organizations had only a few systems
They lacked a way to connect them They operated independently from one another

Computers were typically expensive and large

By the mid-80s powerful microprocessors were developed. And high speed networks began to exist

TODAY: it is easy to combine large numbers of computers with high-speed networks.

A distributed system
Why do DS exist?
It makes it easy to connect users to remote resources It enables resources sharing with remote users (in a controlled way)

Key features:
Hiding the fact that the resources are physically distributed over a network -- transparency Should be an open system Offers services by standard rules that describe the syntax and semantics of those services Should be scalable size, geography, and administration

A distributed system
DS enables more sharing
economics ease of collaboration -- virtual organizations ease of info exchange commerce

Connectivity and sharing lead to security issues

Currently, inadequate protection

A distributed system
Transparency
Is defined as the concealment from the user and the application programmer of the separation of components in a DS, so that the system is perceived as a whole rather than as a collection of independent components
Coulouris et al

There many different types of transparency:

Access transparency: differences in data representation & how resource is accessed Location transparency: where a resource is located Migration transparency: that a resource may move locations Relocation transparency: that a resource may be moved while in use Replication transparency: that a resource is replicated Concurrency transparency: that a resource may be shared by competitors Failure transparency: failure and recovery of a resource Persistence transparency: whether a software resource is in memory or on disk

A distributed system
Openness
Offers services according to standard rules describing syntax and semantics of the services. Rules are formalized in protocols Services generally specified through interfaces
using Interface Definition Language (IDL)
specify syntax only

natural language used to describe semantics allows arbitrary process that needs an interface to talk to another process that provides it proper interfaces are complete and neutral

A distributed system
Why openness?
Interoperability and portability
completeness and neutrality are prerequisites

Flexible
easy to configure the system out of different components from different developers easy to add new components without impact easy to replace existing ones without impact i.e. extensible easier said than done

A distributed system
DS enables greater flexibility
System must be organized as a collection of relatively small and easily replaceable or adaptable components Need for change
Business changes Technology changes Business drives changes Technology enables business changes Component does not provide optimal policy for a specific user or applications

A distributed system
DS enables scalability in terms of administration
How to scale across multiple independent administrative domains Conflicting policies
usage (payment) management security
protect against malice from the new domains protect against malice from the distributed system -- e.g. downloaded programs

A distributed system
DS enables greater size
Limitations of centralized services, data, and algorithms -- become bottleneck
Unlimited processing power and storage cannot overcome communication limitations Decentralization introduces some kinds of uncertainty

A distributed system
DS enables scalability in terms of geography
Existing distributed systems designed for LANs are based on synchronous communication Communication in WANs is inherently unreliable and almost always point-to-point
LANs provide reliable comm based on broadcasting -- WAN needs special location services

Centralized components prevent geographic scale

What we will study

Topic list
Introduction Characterisation of Distributed Information Systems System Models Networking and Internetworking Inter-Process Communication Distributed Objects and Remote Invocation Constructing a DIS application Operating System Support Security Distributed File Systems Name Services Time and Global States Coordination and Agreement Transactions and Concurrency Control Replication Java EE Application Architectures Service Orientated Architectures .NET architecture

Conclusions
The course structure Assessment Topic list and overview Key concepts
Transparency Openness Scalability

Distributed System Overview

END