1 - Intro Flashcards
Define a distributed system
A collection of independent computers that appear as a single coherent system
Multiple processors that do not share memory but cooperate using messages
What are the 4 design goals of distributed computing?
- Resource Sharing
- Open and modular
- Transparency
- Scalability
Resource sharing benefits
Saves money
Enables communication and collaboration
Open/Modular is easy to…
Easy to:
- Use
- Extend
- Combine with others
- Integrate into other systems
Is open/modular monolithic?
No, as that would imply one block.
Define transparency in the context of computing
Removing obstacles to easier understanding
The 7 types of transparency
Access
Location
Migration
Relocation
Replication
Concurrency
Failure
Define Access transparency
Hide differences in representation and how it is accessed
What separates Location, Migration and Relocation transparency?
Location: Hide where it is located
Migration: Hide that a resource may move
Relocation: Hide that a resource may move WHILE IN USE`
The 3 types of scalability are:
By Size
Geographical
Administrative
Define scalability by size
More users/resources without noticeable performance loss
Define geographical scaling
Distributed over various regions but communication delays hardly noticeable
Define administrative scaling
Manageable over different domains/organisations
Decentralised Systems: What level of information does each machine have?
No machine has complete info and each decides based on local info
Decentralised Systems: Fault Tolerant?
Yes. Failure of one machine does not ruin the algorithm