DistributedSystemStructures.pptVIP

Network Structure - Overview Distance is essentially the difference. LANs: we are talking distribution over a short distance, like within an office building or a compact campus. WANs: the venue is quite different: considering generally a number of autonomous processors distributed over a very wide area, such as the United States. Of course, there are going to be many more issues in performance, security, reliability, and communication in the WAN that must be addressed in the design of the distributed operating system. Local Area Networks in context of Distributed Systems LANs arose to reduce expenditures associated with large mainframes in early 70s. A number of small machines, each with considerable, but often not totally enough, compute capabilities are now in wide use. Because of a concomitant need for sharing in the enterprise, usually networked. Decreased error rates; higher speeds; but higher cost cables are needed. Costs for cabling? Short distances? Costs are acceptable. Long distances? Costs may be too much. Communication Lines and Speeds: Most common links: twisted pair and fiber-optic cabling. Most common configurations: multi-access bus, ring, and star networks Communication speeds: 1 megabits/sec to 1 gigabits/sec (for gigabit Ethernet) 10BaseT Ethernet – most common and runs at 10 megabits/sec. 100BaseT Ethernet requires higher-quality cable but runs at 100 megabits/sec. This is becoming quite common. Connect almost anything (mainframes, laptops, PDAs) printers, tapes, ...gateways.) Ethernet network is the most common scheme for LANs. Ethernet network (multi-access bus) has no central controller. New hosts can be easily added to the network. But, because no central controller, there are other issues, such as contention…LANs Wide Area Networks in Context of Distributed Systems WANs: came about in the late 60s as part of research in efficient communications among sites primarily for the DOD. Arpanet was the first in 1968. WANs