CHAPTER -2
TYPES OF DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS
Chapter 2 --->Types of Distributed System 1
Issues/Pitfalls of Distribution
• Requirement for advanced software to realize the potential benefits.
• Security and privacy concerns regarding network communication
• Replication of data and services provides fault tolerance and availability, but
at a cost.
• Network reliability, security, heterogeneity, topology
• Latency and bandwidth
• Administrative domains
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Distributed Systems
• Early distributed systems emphasized the single system image –
often tried to make a networked set of computers look like an
ordinary general purpose computer
– Examples: Amoeba, Sprite, NOW, Condor (distributed batch system), …
• Distributed systems run distributed applications, from file sharing
to large scale projects like SETI@Home
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
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Types of Distributed Systems
• Distributed Computing Systems
1. Clusters
2. Grids
3. Clouds
• Distributed Information Systems
– Transaction Processing Systems
– Enterprise Application Integration
• Distributed Embedded Systems
– Home systems
– Health care systems
– Sensor networks
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Distributed Computing Systems
1. Cluster Computing
• A collection of similar processors (PCs, workstations) running the
same operating system, connected by a high-speed LAN.
• Parallel computing capabilities using inexpensive PC hardware
• Replace big parallel computers (MPPs)
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Distributed Computing Systems
Cluster Types & Uses
• High Performance Clusters (HPC)
– run large parallel programs
– Scientific, military, engineering apps; e.g., weather modeling
• Load Balancing Clusters
– Front end processor distributes incoming requests
– server farms (e.g., at banks or popular web site)
• High Availability Clusters (HA)
– Provide redundancy – back up systems
– May be more fault tolerant than large mainframes
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Distributed Computing Systems
Clusters – Beowulf model
• Linux-based
• Master-slave pattern
– One processor is the master; allocates tasks to other processors,
maintains batch queue of submitted jobs, handles interface to users
– Master has libraries to handle message-based communication or other
features (the middleware).
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Distributed Computing Systems
2. Grid Computing Systems
• Modeled loosely on the electrical grid.
• Highly heterogeneous with respect to hardware, software, networks, security
policies, etc.
• Grids support virtual organizations: a collaboration of users who pool
resources (servers, storage, databases) and share them
• Grid software is concerned with managing sharing across administrative
domains.
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Distributed Computing Systems
Grids
• Similar to clusters but processors are more loosely coupled, tend to be
heterogeneous, and are not all in a central location.
• Can handle workloads similar to those on supercomputers, but grid
computers connect over a network (Internet?) and supercomputers’
CPUs connect to a high-speed internal bus/network
• Problems are broken up into parts and distributed across multiple
computers in the grid – less communication between parts than in
clusters.
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A Proposed Architecture for Grid Systems
• Fabric layer: interfaces to local resources at a
specific site
• Connectivity layer: protocols to support usage
of multiple resources for a single application;
e.g., access a remote resource or transfer data
between resources; and protocols to provide
security
• Resource layer manages a single resource, using
functions supplied by the connectivity layer
• Collective layer: resource discovery, allocation,
scheduling, etc.
• Applications: use the grid resources
• The collective, connectivity and resource layers
together form the middleware layer for a grid Figure: A layered architecture for grid
computing systems
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Distributed Computing Systems
3. Cloud Computing
• Provides scalable services as a utility over the Internet.
• Often built on a computer grid
• Users buy services from the cloud
– Grid users may develop and run their own software
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Distributed Information Systems
• Business-oriented
• Systems to make a number of separate network applications
interoperable and build “enterprise-wide information
systems”.
• Two types of distributed information systems discussed here:
– Transaction processing systems (TPS)
– Enterprise application integration (EAI)
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Distributed Information Systems
Transaction Processing Systems
• Provide a highly structured client-server approach for database
applications
• Transactions are the communication model
• Obey the ACID properties:
– Atomic: all or nothing. Each transaction either happen completely, or
not at all. And if it happens It happens in a single indivisible,
instantaneous action.
– Consistent: invariants are preserved. Transaction does not violate
system invariants
– Isolated (serializable) concurrent transactions do not interfere
with each other
– Durable: committed operations can’t be undone
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Distributed Information Systems
• Transaction Processing Systems
Figure :Example primitives for transactions
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Distributed Information Systems
Transactions
• Transaction processing may be centralized
(traditional client/server system) or
distributed.
• A distributed database is one in which the
data storage is distributed – connected to
separate processors.
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Distributed Information Systems
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
• Less structured than transaction-based systems
• EA components communicate directly
– Enterprise applications are things like HR data, inventory
programs, …
– May use different OSs, different DBs but need to interoperate
sometimes.
• Communication mechanisms to support this include
CORBA, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Remote
Method Invocation (RMI)
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Distributed Information Systems
Enterprise Application Integration
Figure: Middleware as a communication facilitator in enterprise application integration .
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Distributed Pervasive Systems
Distributed Embedded Systems
• The first two types of systems are characterized by
their stability: nodes and network connections are
more or less fixed
• This type of system is likely to incorporate small,
battery-powered, mobile devices
– Home systems
– Electronic health care systems – patient monitoring
– Sensor networks – data collection, surveillance
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Distributed Pervasive Systems
Home System
• Built around one or more PCs, but can also
include other electronic devices:
– Automatic control of lighting, sprinkler systems,
alarm systems, etc.
– Network enabled appliances
– PDAs and smart phones, etc.
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Distributed Pervasive Systems
Electronic Health Care Systems
Figure :Monitoring a person in a pervasive electronic health care system, using (a) a
local hub or (b) a continuous wireless connection.
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Distributed Pervasive Systems
Sensor Networks
• A collection of geographically distributed nodes
consisting of a communication device, a power source,
some kind of sensor, a small processor…
• Purpose: to collectively monitor sensory data
(temperature, sound, moisture etc.,) and transmit the
data to a base station
• “smart environment” – the nodes may do some
rudimentary processing of the data in addition to their
communication responsibilities.
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