Distributed operating systems have many aspects in common with centralized ones, but they also differ in certain ways This paper is intended as an introduction to distributed operating systems, and especially to current university research about them After a discussion of what constitutes a distributed operating system and how it is distinguished from a computer network, various key design issues are discussed Then several examples of current research projects are examined in some detail, namely, the Cambridge Distributed Computing System, Amoeba, V, and Eden

https://cds.cern.ch/record/400319/files/p101.pdf

Distributed Operating Systems

One measure of the usefulness of a general-purpose distributed computing system is the system's ability to provide a level of performance commensurate to the degree of multiplicity of resources present in the system. A taxonomy of approaches to the resource management problem is presented in an attempt to provide a common terminology and classification mechanism necessary in addressing this problem. The taxonomy, while presented and discussed in terms of distributed scheduling, is also applicable to most types of resource management. >

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A taxonomy of scheduling in general-purpose distributed computing systems

Technical report series

The authors provide an overview of the current research and development directions in knowledge and data engineering. They classify research problems and approaches in this area and discuss future trends. Research on knowledge and data engineering is examined with respect to programmability and representation, design tradeoffs, algorithms and control, and emerging technologies. Future challenges are considered with respect to software and hardware architecture and system design. The paper serves as an introduction to this first issue of a new quarter. >

Knowledge and data engineering

Process migration is the act of transferring a process between two machines. It enables dynamic load distribution, fault resilience, eased system administration, and data access locality. Despite these goals and ongoing research efforts, migration has not achieved widespread use. With the increasing deployment of distributed systems in general, and distributed operating systems in particular, process migration is again receiving more attention in both research and product development. As high-performance facilities shift from supercomputers to networks of workstations, and with the ever-increasing role of the World Wide Web, we expect migration to play a more important role and eventually to be widely adopted.This survey reviews the field of process migration by summarizing the key concepts and giving an overview of the most important implementations. Design and implementation issues of process migration are analyzed in general, and then revisited for each of the case studies described: MOSIX, Sprite, Mach, and Load Sharing Facility. The benefits and drawbacks of process migration depend on the details of implementation and, therefore, this paper focuses on practical matters. This survey will help in understanding the potentials of process migration and why it has not caught on.

Process migration

Many of today's computers run with Bell Laboratories' Unix operating system, including the DEC PDP-1 1 and VAX series, Interdata 8/32, and Honeywell 6000.1(2 At least 5000 Unix systems are currently in operation, as compared with approximately 1000 such systems at the end of 1978. The need for linking these systems into networks has focused attention on such technical problem areas as communication protocols and Unix extensions, as well as load-balancing methods. The problems arising from networking can be better understood in the context of the design and operational experiences associated with one particular Unix network-the Purdue Engineering Computer Network. Of particular interest in the ECN are the load-balancing strategies embedded in its system software. Additional light can be shed on these topics by comparing the Purdue ECN with other Unix networks in terms of network configurations, protocols, and capabilities. Two types of Unix networks have been developed in industrial and academic environments: the dial-up Unix network,3 developed at Bell Laboratories using telephone lines linking more than 80 minicomputers, and the hardwired Unix networks. Data communications through the dial-up network's leased telephone lines are slow, with a rate of 300 baud or 1200 baud. Hardwired Unix networks, however, which use dedicated links between the host computers, feature much higher data transmission ratesrates ranging up to severalM baud. The Purdue ECN4,5 is

A Unix-Based Local Computer Network with Load Balancing

This chapter presents three paradigms of representations for combinatorial search problems. Depending on the functions of the nonterminal nodes in the graphical representation, a search problem can be represented as an AND-tree, an OR-tree, and an AND/OR graph. This classification facilitates the design of unique computer architectures for supporting efficient evaluation of combinatorial search problems. For each representation, we develop theoretical bounds, efficient algorithms, and functional requirements of multiprocessing architectures, and illustrate these results by examples.

Multiprocessing of Combinatorial Search Problems

File Placement on Distributed Computer Systems

The PUMPS architecture consists of P task processing units (TPU) which share a pool of special peripheral processors, VLSI functional units, and a common two-dimensional shared memory (SM) via a block transfer oriented interconnection network. A shared cache is provided between the TPU's and SM for efficient MIMD interprocessor communication. The SM is also connected via a backend database management network (BDMN) with distributed control to the file memories, which are disk-based database storage devices.

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Papers

A Unix-Based Local Computer Network with Load Balancing

Multiprocessing of Combinatorial Search Problems

File Placement on Distributed Computer Systems

PUMPS Architecture for Pattern Analysis and Image Database Management