distributed
computing
Picture: The concept of distributed computing is simple
-- pull together and employ all
available resources to speed up computing.
First you'll think what is distributed computing? you might
have heard of distributed systems where a collection of independent computers
that appears to its users as a single coherent system. where many machines are
working together to fulfill users requirement but user feels that he is working
on a single machine.
so what is distributed computing then? Distributed computing is a science which
solves a large problem by giving small parts of the problem to manycomputers to
solve and then combining the solutions for the parts into a solution for the
problem, In a distributed computing setup, the program runs like it would in a
single computer even when it is, in fact, using different computer processors.
Brief
history of distributed computing
The
use of concurrent processes that communicate by message-passing has its roots
in operating system architectures studied in the 1960s.[19] The first
widespread distributed systems were local-area networks such as Ethernet that
was invented in the 1970s.[20]ARPANET,
the predecessor of the Internet, was introduced in the late 1960s, and ARPANET
e-mail was invented in the early 1970s. E-mail became the most successful
application of ARPANET,[21] and it is probably the earliest example of a
large-scale distributed application. In addition to ARPANET, and its successor,
the Internet, other early worldwide computer networks included Usenet and
FidoNet from 1980s, both of which were used to support distributed discussion
systems. The
study of distributed computing became its own branch of computer science in the
late 1970s and early 1980s. The first conference in the field, Symposium on
Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC), dates back to 1982
To clarify more
Distributed Computing is defined as the application of
resources from multiple computers, networked in a single environment, to
a single problem at the same time - usually to a scientific or technical
problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or access to
large amounts of data.
why to use distributed computing?
- A
computer that is part of a distributed computing network usually has a
program installed in it that is its direct link to the administrative
server or servers.
- The
software remains dormant in the individual computer until such time that
the computer's system becomes idle .
- At
this point, the software will be activated and will inform the administrative
server about available resources in the computer.
- The
administrative server will respond by sending an application package to
the requesting computer.
- The
moment the user has need of his own resources again,the management server
will immediately relinquish the resources that it has been monopolizing,
back to the owner of the computer.
Advantages
of Distributed Computing
Reliability
The important advantage of distributed computing
system is reliability. It is more reliable than a single system. If one machine
from system crashes, the rest of the computers remain unaffected and the system
can survive as a whole
Incremental
Growth
In
distributed computing the computer power can be added in small increments
Sharing of
Resources
Shared data is required to many applications such as
banking, reservation system and computer-supported cooperative work.
Flexibility
As the
system is very flexible, it is very easy to install, implement and debug new
services.
Speed
A distributed
computing system can have more computing power than a mainframe. Its speed
makes it different than other systems
Open
system
As it is
open system, it can communicate with other systems at anytime. Because of an
open system it has an advantage over self-contained system as well as closed
system
Performance
It is yet
another advantage of distributed computing system. The collection of processors
in the system can provide higher performance than a centralized computer.
Disadvantages
of Distributed Computing
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
and diagnosing problems are the most important disadvantages of distributed
computing system. The analysis may require connecting to remote nodes or
checking communication between nodes.
Software
Less software
support is the main disadvantage of distributed computing system. Because of
more software components that comprise a system there is a chance of error
occurring
Networking
The
underlying network in distributed computing system can cause several problems
such as transmission problem, overloading, loss of messages. Hence, the
problems created by network infrastructure are the disadvantages of distributed
computing.
Security
The easy
distributed access in distributed computing system which increases the risk of
security. The sharing of data creates the problem of data security.
to learn more you can visit
Examples of distributed systems and applications of
distributed
computing include the following :
Telecommunication
networks
Telephone
networks and cellular networks
computer
networks such as the internet
wireless
sensor networks
routing
algorithms
Network
applications
World wide
web and peer-to-peer networks
Massively multiplayer online games and virtual reality communities
Distributed databases and distributed database management systems
Network file system
Distributed information processing systems such as banking systems and airline reservation systems
One of
the requirements of distributed computing is a set of standards that specify
how objects communicate with one another. There are currently two chief
distributed computing standards: CORBA and DCOM.
To learn more about these two standards you can visit :
