Distributed Systems Lecture Notes

This set of flashcards includes key vocabulary and definitions related to distributed systems, covering essential concepts, characteristics, and types of transparency.

Distributed System

A collection of autonomous computer systems connected by a network equipped with distributed system software that allows communication and resource sharing.

Centralized System

A system where one component consists of non-autonomous parts that are shared by users all the time, with all resources accessible and controlled by a single process.

Distributed System Characteristics

Features including resource sharing, openness, concurrency, scalability, fault tolerance, and transparency.

Scalability

The ability of a distributed system to accommodate more users and respond faster by adding more or faster processors without requiring changes to components.

Fault Tolerance

The capability of a distributed system to maintain availability even in the event of hardware, software, or network failures through recovery and redundancy.

Transparency in Distributed Systems

The property that allows users to perceive the system as a whole rather than as a collection of cooperating components.

Access Transparency

Enables local and remote information objects to be accessed using identical operations.

Location Transparency

Allows information objects to be accessed without knowledge of their location.

Concurrency Transparency

Facilitates the operation of several processes concurrently using shared resources without interference.

Replication Transparency

Enables the use of multiple instances of information objects to enhance reliability and performance without user awareness of the replicas.

Failure Transparency

The capability to conceal faults, allowing users and applications to complete tasks despite component failures.

Migration Transparency

The ability to move information objects within a system without impacting user operations.

Performance Transparency

Allows system reconfiguration to improve performance as loads vary.

Scaling Transparency

Enables the system and applications to expand without changing the system structure or application algorithms.