Chapter 3 - Processes

Introduction to Distributed Systems

Salahadin Seid
Department of Computing
Jimma Institute of Technology

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Introduction
Communication takes place between processes
a process is a program in execution
from OS perspective, management and scheduling of processes is
important
other important issues arise in distributed systems
multithreading to enhance performance
how are clients and servers organized
process or code migration to achieve scalability and to
dynamically configure clients and servers
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3.1 Threads and their Implementation
threads can be used in both distributed and nondistributed systems
Threads in Nondistributed Systems
a process has an address space (containing program text and data)
and a single thread of control, as well as other resources such as
open files, child processes, accounting information, etc.
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Process 1 Process 2 Process 3
three processes each with one thread one process with three threads
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each thread has its own program counter, registers, stack,
and state; but all threads of a process share address space,
global variables and other resources such as open files, etc.
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Threads take turns in running
Threads allow multiple executions to take place in the same
process environment, called multithreading
Thread Usage Why do we need threads?
e.g., a wordprocessor has different parts; parts for
interacting with the user
formatting the page as soon as changes are made
timed savings (for auto recovery)
spelling and grammar checking, etc.
1. Simplifying the programming model: since many
activities are going on at once
2. They are easier to create and destroy than processes
since they do not have any resources attached to them
3. Performance improves by overlapping activities if there is
too much I/O; i.e., to avoid blocking when waiting for
input or doing calculations, say in a spreadsheet
4. Real parallelism is possible in a multiprocessor system
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having finer granularity in terms of multiple threads per
process rather than processes provides better performance
and makes it easier to build distributed applications
in nondistributed systems, threads can be used with shared
data instead of processes to avoid context switching
overhead in interprocess communication (IPC)
context switching as the result of IPC
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Thread Implementation
threads are usually provided in the form of a thread
package
the package contains operations to create and destroy a
thread, operations on synchronization variables such as
mutexes and condition variables
two approaches of constructing a thread package
a. construct a thread library that is executed entirely in user
mode (the OS is not aware of threads)
cheap to create and destroy threads; just allocate and
free memory
context switching can be done using few instructions;
store and reload only CPU register values
disadv: invocation of a blocking system call will block
the entire process to which the thread belongs and all
other threads in that process
b. implement them in the OSs kernel
let the kernel be aware of threads and schedule them
expensive for thread operations such as creation and
deletion since each requires a system call
combining kernel-level lightweight processes and user-level threads
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solution: use a hybrid form of user-level and kernel-level
threads, called lightweight process (LWP)
a LWP runs in the context of a single (heavy-weight) process,
and there can be several LWPs per process
the system also offers a user-level thread package for some
operations such as creating and destroying threads, for
thread synchronization (mutexes and condition variables)
the thread package can be shared by multiple LWPs
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Threads in Distributed Systems
Multithreaded Clients
consider a Web browser; fetching different parts of a page
can be implemented as a separate thread, each opening its
own TCP/IP connection to the server or to separate and
replicated servers
each can display the results as it gets its part of the page
Multithreaded Servers
servers can be constructed in three ways
a. single-threaded process
it gets a request, examines it, carries it out to completion
before getting the next request
the server is idle while waiting for disk read, i.e., system
calls are blocking
a multithreaded server organized in a dispatcher/worker model
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b. threads
threads are more important for implementing servers
e.g., a file server
the dispatcher thread reads incoming requests for a file
operation from clients and passes it to an idle worker
thread
the worker thread performs a blocking disk read; in
which case another thread may continue, say the
dispatcher or another worker thread
three ways to construct a server
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c. finite-state machine
if threads are not available
it gets a request, examines it, tries to fulfill the request
from cache, else sends a request to the file system; but
instead of blocking it records the state of the current
request and proceeds to the next request
Summary
Model Characteristics
Single-threaded process No parallelism, blocking system calls
Threads
Parallelism, blocking system calls
(thread only)
Finite-state machine Parallelism, nonblocking system calls
3.2 Anatomy of Clients
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Two issues: user interfaces and client-side software for
distribution transparency
a. User Interfaces
to create a convenient environment for the interaction of a
human user and a remote server; e.g. mobile phones with
simple displays and a set of keys
GUIs are most commonly used
The X Window System (or simply X)
it has the X kernel: the part of the OS that controls the
terminal (monitor, keyboard, pointing device like a
mouse) and is hardware dependent
contains all terminal-specific device drivers through the
library called xlib
the basic organization of the X Window System
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b. Client-Side Software for Distribution Transparency
in addition to the user interface, parts of the processing
and data level in a client-server application are executed at
the client side
an example is embedded client software for ATMs, cash
registers, etc.
moreover, client software can also include components to
achieve distribution transparency
e.g., replication transparency
assume a distributed system with replicated servers; the
client proxy can send requests to each replica and a
client side software can transparently collect all
responses and passes a single return value to the client
application
transparent replication of a server using a client-side solution
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access transparency and failure transparency can also be
achieved using client-side software
3.3 Servers and design issues
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3.3.1 General Design Issues
How to organize servers?
Where do clients contact a server?
Whether and how a server can be interrupted
Whether or not the server is stateless
a. Wow to organize servers?
Iterative server
the server itself handles the request and returns the
result
Concurrent server
it passes a request to a separate process or thread and
waits for the next incoming request; e.g., a
multithreaded server; or by forking a new process as
is done in Unix
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b. Where do clients contact a server?
using endpoints or ports at the machine where the server
is running where each server listens to a specific
endpoint
how do clients know the endpoint of a service?
globally assign endpoints for well-known services; e.g.
FTP is on TCP port 21, HTTP is on TCP port 80
for services that do not require preassigned endpoints,
it can be dynamically assigned by the local OS
IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) Ranges
IANA divided the port numbers into three ranges




Well-known ports: assigned and controlled by IANA
for standard services, e.g., DNS uses port 53
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Registered ports: are not assigned and controlled by IANA;
can only be registered with IANA to prevent duplication e.g.,
MySQL uses port 3306
Dynamic ports or ephemeral ports : neither controlled nor
registered by IANA
how can the client know this endpoint? two approaches
i. have a daemon running and listening to a well-known
endpoint; it keeps track of all endpoints of services on the
collocated server
the client will first contact the daemon which provides it
with the endpoint, and then the client contacts the
specific server
Client-to-Server binding using a superserver
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ii. use a superserver (as in UNIX) that listens to all endpoints
and then forks a process to take care of the request; this is
instead of having a lot of servers running simultaneously and
most of them idle
Client-to-server binding using a daemon
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c. Whether and how a server can be interrupted
for instance, a user may want to interrupt a file transfer,
may be it was the wrong file
let the client exit the client application; this will break the
connection to the server; the server will tear down the
connection assuming that the client had crashed
or
let the client send out-of-bound data, data to be
processed by the server before any other data from the
client; the server may listen on a separate control
endpoint; or send it on the same connection as urgent
data as is in TCP
d. Whether or not the server is stateless
a stateless server does not keep information on the state
of its clients; for instance a Web server
soft state: a server promises to maintain state for a
limited time; e.g., to keep a client informed about
updates; after the time expires, the client has to poll
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a stateful server maintains information about its clients;
for instance a file server that allows a client to keep a
local copy of a file and can make update operations
3.3.2 Server Clusters
a server cluster is a collection of machines connected
through a network (normally a LAN with high bandwidth and
low latency) where each machine runs one or more servers
it is logically organized into three tiers
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the general organization of a three-tiered server cluster
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Distributed Servers
the problem with a server cluster is when the logical switch
(single access point) fails making the cluster unavailable
hence, several access points can be provided where the
addresses are publicly available leading to a distributed
server
e.g., the DNS can return several addresses for the same host
name
3.4 Code Migration
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so far, communication was concerned on passing data
we may pass programs, even while running and in
heterogeneous systems
code migration also involves moving data as well: when a
program migrates while running, its status, pending signals,
and other environment variables such as the stack and the
program counter also have to be moved
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Reasons for Migrating Code
to improve performance; move processes from heavily-
loaded to lightly-loaded machines (load balancing)
to reduce communication: move a client application that
performs many database operations to a server if the
database resides on the server; then send only results to the
client
to exploit parallelism (for nonparallel programs): e.g., copies
of a mobile program (a crawler as is called in search
engines) moving from site to site searching the Web
the principle of dynamically configuring a client to communicate to a server; the
client first fetches the necessary software, and then invokes the server
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to have flexibility by dynamically configuring distributed
systems: instead of having a multitiered client-server
application deciding in advance which parts of a program
are to be run where
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Models for Code Migration
a process consists of three segments: code segment (set of
instructions), resource segment (references to external
resources such as files, printers, ...), and execution segment
(to store the current execution state of a process such as
private data, the stack, the program counter)
Weak Mobility
transfer only the code segment and may be some
initialization data; in this case a program always starts
from its initial stage, e.g. Java Applets
execution can be by the target process (in its own
address space like in Java Applets) or by a separate
process
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Strong Mobility
transfer code and execution segments; helps to migrate a
process in execution
can also be supported by remote cloning; having an
exact copy of the original process and running on a
different machine; executed in parallel to the original
process; UNIX does this by forking a child process
migration can be
sender-initiated: the machine where the code resides or
is currently running; e.g., uploading programs to a
server; may need authentication or that the client is a
registered one
receiver-initiated: by the target machine; e.g., Java
Applets; easier to implement
Summary of models of code migration
alternatives for code migration
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Migration and Local Resources
how to migrate the resource segment
not always possible to move a resource; e.g., a reference to
TCP port held by a process to communicate with other
processes
Types of Process-to-Resource Bindings
Binding by identifier (the strongest): a resource is referred
by its identifier; e.g., a URL to refer to a Web page or an FTP
server referred by its Internet (IP) address
Binding by value (weaker): when only the value of a
resource is needed; in this case another resource can
provide the same value; e.g., standard libraries of
programming languages such as C or Java which are
normally locally available, but their location in the file
system may vary from site to site
Binding by type (weakest): a process needs a resource of a
specific type; reference to local devices, such as monitors,
printers, ...
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in migrating code, the above bindings cannot change, but the
references to resources can
how can a reference be changed? depends whether the
resource can be moved along with the code, i.e., resource-to-
machine binding
Types of Resource-to-Machine Bindings
Unattached Resources: can be easily moved with the
migrating program (such as data files associated with the
program)
Fastened Resources: such as local databases and complete
Web sites; moving or copying may be possible, but very
costly
Fixed Resources: intimately bound to a specific machine or
environment such as local devices and cannot be moved
we have nine combinations to consider
actions to be taken with respect to the references to local resources
when migrating code to another machine
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Unattached Fastened Fixed
By identifier
By value
By type
MV (or GR)
CP (or MV, GR)
RB (or GR, CP)
GR (or MV)
GR (or CP)
RB (or GR, CP)
GR
GR
RB (or GR)
Resource-to machine binding
Process-to-
resource binding
GR: Establish a global system wide reference
MV: Move the resource
CP: Copy the value of the resource
RB: Rebind process to a locally available resource

Exercise: for each of the nine combinations, give example
resources
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Migration in Heterogeneous Systems
distributed systems are constructed on a heterogeneous
collection of platforms, each with its own OS and machine
architecture
heterogeneity problems are similar to those of portability
easier in some languages
for scripting languages the source code is interpreted
for Java an intermediary code is generated by the
compiler for a virtual machine
in weak mobility
since there is no runtime information, compile the source
code for each potential platform
in strong mobility
difficult to transfer the execution segment since there
may be platform-dependent information such as register
values; Read the book about possible solutions