Chapter 17 – Distributed software engineering

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Topics covered

 Distributed systems
 Client–server computing
 Architectural patterns for distributed systems
 Software as a service

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Distributed systems

 Virtually all large computer-based systems are now

distributed systems.
“… a collection of independent computers that appears to the user
as a single coherent system.”
 Information processing is distributed over several
computers rather than confined to a single machine.
 Distributed software engineering is therefore very
important for enterprise computing systems.

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Distributed system characteristics

 Resource sharing
 Sharing of hardware and software resources.
 Openness
 Use of equipment and software from different vendors.
 Concurrency
 Concurrent processing to enhance performance.
 Scalability
 Increased throughput by adding new resources.
 Fault tolerance
 The ability to continue in operation after a fault has occurred.

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 Distributed systems

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Distributed systems issues

 Distributed systems are more complex than systems that

run on a single processor.
 Complexity arises because different parts of the system
are independently managed as is the network.
 There is no single authority in charge of the system so
top-down control is impossible.

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Design issues

 Transparency To what extent should the distributed system appear

to the user as a single system?
 Openness Should a system be designed using standard protocols
that support interoperability?
 Scalability How can the system be constructed so that it is
scaleable?
 Security How can usable security policies be defined and
implemented?
 Quality of service How should the quality of service be specified.
 Failure management How can system failures be detected,
contained and repaired?

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Transparency

 Ideally, users should not be aware that a system is

distributed and services should be independent of
distribution characteristics.
 In practice, this is impossible because parts of the
system are independently managed and because of
network delays.
 Often better to make users aware of distribution so that they can
cope with problems
 To achieve transparency, resources should be
abstracted and addressed logically rather than
physically. Middleware maps logical to physical
resources.
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Openness

 Open distributed systems are systems that are built

according to generally accepted standards.
 Components from any supplier can be integrated into the
system and can inter-operate with the other system
components.
 Openness implies that system components can be
independently developed in any programming language
and, if these conform to standards, they will work with
other components.
 Web service standards for service-oriented architectures
were developed to be open standards.
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Scalability

 The scalability of a system reflects its ability to deliver a

high quality service as demands on the system increase
 Size It should be possible to add more resources to a system to
cope with increasing numbers of users.
 Distribution It should be possible to geographically disperse the
components of a system without degrading its performance.
 Manageability It should be possible to manage a system as it
increases in size, even if parts of the system are located in
independent organizations.
 There is a distinction between scaling-up and scaling-
out. Scaling up is more powerful system; scaling out is
more system instances.

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Security

 When a system is distributed, the number of ways that

the system may be attacked is significantly increased,
compared to centralized systems.
 If a part of the system is successfully attacked then the
attacker may be able to use this as a ‘back door’ into
other parts of the system.
 Difficulties in a distributed system arise because different
organizations may own parts of the system. These
organizations may have mutually incompatible security
policies and security mechanisms.

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Types of attack

 The types of attack that a distributed system must

defend itself against are:
 Interception, where communications between parts of the system
are intercepted by an attacker so that there is a loss of
confidentiality.
 Interruption, where system services are attacked and cannot be
delivered as expected.
• Denial of service attacks involve bombarding a node with illegitimate
service requests so that it cannot deal with valid requests.
 Modification, where data or services in the system are changed
by an attacker.
 Fabrication, where an attacker generates information that should
not exist and then uses this to gain some privileges.

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Quality of service

 The quality of service (QoS) offered by a distributed

system reflects the system’s ability to deliver its services
dependably and with a response time and throughput
that is acceptable to its users.
 Quality of service is particularly critical when the system
is dealing with time-critical data such as sound or video
streams.
 In these circumstances, if the quality of service falls below a
threshold value then the sound or video may become so
degraded that it is impossible to understand.

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Failure management

 In a distributed system, it is inevitable that failures will

occur, so the system has to be designed to be resilient to
these failures.
“You know that you have a distributed system when the
crash of a system that you’ve never heard of stops you
getting any work done.”
 Distributed systems should include mechanisms for
discovering if a component of the system has failed,
should continue to deliver as many services as possible
in spite of that failure and, as far as possible,
automatically recover from the failure.

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Models of interaction

 Two types of interaction between components in a

distributed system
 Procedural interaction, where one computer calls on a known
service offered by another computer and waits for a response.
 Message-based interaction, involves the sending computer
sending information about what is required to another computer.
There is no necessity to wait for a response.

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Procedural interaction between a diner and a
waiter

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Message-based interaction between a waiter and
the kitchen

<starter>
<dish name = “soup” type = “tomato” />
<dish name = “soup” type = “fish” />
<dish name = “pigeon salad” />
</starter>
<main course>
<dish name = “steak” type = “sirloin” cooking = “medium” />
<dish name = “steak” type = “fillet” cooking = “rare” />
<dish name = “sea bass”>
</main>
<accompaniment>
<dish name = “french fries” portions = “2” />
<dish name = “salad” portions = “1” />
</accompaniment>

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Remote procedure calls

 Procedural communication in a distributed system is

implemented using remote procedure calls (RPC).
 In a remote procedure call, one component calls
another component as if it was a local procedure or
method. The middleware in the system intercepts this
call and passes it to a remote component.
 This carries out the required computation and, via the
middleware, returns the result to the calling component.
 A problem with RPCs is that the caller and the callee
need to be available at the time of the communication,
and they must know how to refer to each other.
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Message passing

 Message-based interaction normally involves one

component creating a message that details the services
required from another component.
 Through the system middleware, this is sent to the
receiving component.
 The receiver parses the message, carries out the
computations and creates a message for the sending
component with the required results.
 In a message-based approach, it is not necessary for the
sender and receiver of the message to be aware of each
other. They simple communicate with the middleware.
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Middleware

 The components in a distributed system may be

implemented in different programming languages and
may execute on completely different types of processor.
Models of data, information representation and protocols
for communication may all be different.
 Middleware is software that can manage these diverse
parts, and ensure that they can communicate and
exchange data.

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Middleware in a distributed system

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Middleware support

 Interaction support, where the middleware coordinates

interactions between different components in the system
 The middleware provides location transparency in that it isn’t
necessary for components to know the physical locations of
other components.
 The provision of common services, where the
middleware provides reusable implementations of
services that may be required by several components in
the distributed system.
 By using these common services, components can easily inter-
operate and provide user services in a consistent way.

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 Client-server computing

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Client-server computing

 Distributed systems that are accessed over the Internet

are normally organized as client-server systems.
 In a client-server system, the user interacts with a
program running on their local computer (e.g. a web
browser or mobile application). This interacts with
another program running on a remote computer (e.g. a
web server).
 The remote computer provides services, such as access
to web pages, which are available to external clients.

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Client–server interaction

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Mapping of clients and servers to networked
computers

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Layered architectural model for client–server
applications

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Layers in a client/server system

 Presentation
 concerned with presenting information to the user and managing
all user interaction.
 Data handling
 manages the data that is passed to and from the client.
Implement checks on the data, generate web pages, etc.
 Application processing layer
 concerned with implementing the logic of the application and so
providing the required functionality to end users.
 Database
 Stores data and provides transaction management services, etc.

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 Architectural patterns for distributed systems

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Architectural patterns

 Widely used ways of organizing the architecture of a distributed

system:
 Master-slave architecture, which is used in real-time systems in which
guaranteed interaction response times are required.
 Two-tier client-server architecture, which is used for simple client-server
systems, and where the system is centralized for security reasons.
 Multi-tier client-server architecture, which is used when there is a high
volume of transactions to be processed by the server.
 Distributed component architecture, which is used when resources from
different systems and databases need to be combined, or as an
implementation model for multi-tier client-server systems.
 Peer-to-peer architecture, which is used when clients exchange locally
stored information and the role of the server is to introduce clients to
each other

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Master-slave architectures

 Master-slave architectures are commonly used in real-

time systems where there may be separate processors
associated with data acquisition from the system’s
environment, data processing and computation and
actuator management.
 The ‘master’ process is usually responsible for
computation, coordination and communications and it
controls the ‘slave’ processes.
 ‘Slave’ processes are dedicated to specific actions, such
as the acquisition of data from an array of sensors.

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A traffic management system with a master-
slave architecture

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Two-tier client server architectures

 In a two-tier client-server architecture, the system is

implemented as a single logical server plus an indefinite
number of clients that use that server.
 Thin-client model, where the presentation layer is implemented
on the client and all other layers (data management, application
processing and database) are implemented on a server.
 Fat-client model, where some or all of the application processing
is carried out on the client. Data management and database
functions are implemented on the server.

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Thin- and fat-client architectural models

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Thin client model

 Used when legacy systems are migrated to client server

architectures.
 The legacy system acts as a server in its own right with a
graphical interface implemented on a client.
 A major disadvantage is that it places a heavy
processing load on both the server and the network.

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Fat client model

 More processing is delegated to the client as the

application processing is locally executed.
 Most suitable for new C/S systems where the capabilities
of the client system are known in advance.
 More complex than a thin client model especially for
management. New versions of the application have to be
installed on all clients.

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A fat-client architecture for an ATM system

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Thin and fat clients

 Distinction between thin and fat client architectures has

become blurred
 Javascript allows local processing in a browser so ‘fat-
client’ functionality available without software installation
 Mobile apps carry out some local processing to minimize
demands on network
 Auto-update of apps reduces management problems
 There are now very few thin-client applications with all
processing carried out on remote server.

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Multi-tier client-server architectures

 In a ‘multi-tier client–server’ architecture, the different

layers of the system, namely presentation, data
management, application processing, and database, are
separate processes that may execute on different
processors.
 This avoids problems with scalability and performance if
a thin-client two-tier model is chosen, or problems of
system management if a fat-client model is used.

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Three-tier architecture for an Internet banking
system

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Use of client–server architectural patterns

Architecture Applications
Two-tier client–server Legacy system applications that are used when
architecture with thin clients separating application processing and data management
is impractical. Clients may access these as services, as
discussed in Section 18.4.
Computationally intensive applications such as compilers
with little or no data management.
Data-intensive applications (browsing and querying) with
nonintensive application processing. Browsing the Web is
the most common example of a situation where this
architecture is used.

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Use of client–server architectural patterns

Architecture Applications
Two-tier client-server Applications where application processing is provided by
architecture with fat clients off-the-shelf software (e.g., Microsoft Excel) on the client.
Applications where computationally intensive processing
of data (e.g., data visualization) is required.
Mobile applications where internet connectivity cannot be
guaranteed. Some local processing using cached
information from the database is therefore possible.
Multi-tier client–server Large-scale applications with hundreds or thousands of
architecture clients.
Applications where both the data and the application are
volatile.
Applications where data from multiple sources are
integrated.

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Distributed component architectures

 There is no distinction in a distributed component

architecture between clients and servers.
 Each distributable entity is a component that provides
services to other components and receives services from
other components.
 Component communication is through a middleware
system.

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A distributed component architecture

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Benefits of distributed component architecture

 It allows the system designer to delay decisions on

where and how services should be provided.
 It is a very open system architecture that allows new
resources to be added as required.
 The system is flexible and scalable.
 It is possible to reconfigure the system dynamically with
objects migrating across the network as required.

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A distributed component architecture for a data
mining system

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Disadvantages of distributed component
architecture

 Distributed component architectures suffer from two

major disadvantages:
 They are more complex to design than client–server systems.
Distributed component architectures are difficult for people to
visualize and understand.
 Standardized middleware for distributed component systems has
never been accepted by the community. Different vendors, such
as Microsoft and Sun, have developed different, incompatible
middleware.
 As a result of these problems, service-oriented
architectures are replacing distributed component
architectures in many situations.

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Peer-to-peer architectures

 Peer to peer (p2p) systems are decentralised systems

where computations may be carried out by any node in
the network.
 The overall system is designed to take advantage of the
computational power and storage of a large number of
networked computers.
 Most p2p systems have been personal systems but
there is increasing business use of this technology.

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Peer-to-peer systems

 File sharing systems based on the BitTorrent protocol

 Messaging systems such as Jabber
 Payments systems – Bitcoin
 Databases – Freenet is a decentralized database
 Phone systems – Viber
 Computation systems - SETI@home

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P2p architectural models

 The logical network architecture

 Decentralised architectures;
 Semi-centralised architectures.
 Application architecture
 The generic organisation of components making up a p2p
application.
 Focus here on network architectures.

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A decentralized p2p architecture

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A semicentralized p2p architecture

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 Software as a service

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Use of p2p architecture

 When a system is computationally-intensive and it is

possible to separate the processing required into a large
number of independent computations.
 When a system primarily involves the exchange of
information between individual computers on a network
and there is no need for this information to be centrally-
stored or managed.

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Security issues in p2p system

 Security concerns are the principal reason why p2p

architectures are not widely used.
 The lack of central management means that malicious
nodes can be set up to deliver spam and malware to
other nodes in the network.
 P2P communications require careful setup to protect
local information and if not done correctly, then this is
exposed to othe peers.

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Software as a service

 Software as a service (SaaS) involves hosting the

software remotely and providing access to it over the
Internet.
 Software is deployed on a server (or more commonly a number
of servers) and is accessed through a web browser. It is not
deployed on a local PC.
 The software is owned and managed by a software provider,
rather than the organizations using the software.
 Users may pay for the software according to the amount of use
they make of it or through an annual or monthly subscription.

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Key elements of SaaS

 Software is deployed on a server (or more commonly a

number of servers) and is accessed through a web
browser. It is not deployed on a local PC.
 The software is owned and managed by a software
provider, rather than the organizations using the
software.
 Users may pay for the software according to the amount
of use they make of it or through an annual or monthly
subscription. Sometimes, the software is free for anyone
to use but users must then agree to accept
advertisements, which fund the software service.

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SaaS and SOA

 Software as a service is a way of providing functionality

on a remote server with client access through a web
browser. The server maintains the user’s data and state
during an interaction session. Transactions are usually
long transactions e.g. editing a document.
 Service-oriented architecture is an approach to
structuring a software system as a set of separate,
stateless services. These may be provided by multiple
providers and may be distributed. Typically, transactions
are short transactions where a service is called, does
something then returns a result.

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Implementation factors for SaaS

 Configurability How do you configure the software for the

specific requirements of each organization?
 Multi-tenancy How do you present each user of the
software with the impression that they are working with
their own copy of the system while, at the same time,
making efficient use of system resources?
 Scalability How do you design the system so that it can
be scaled to accommodate an unpredictably large
number of users?

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Configuration of a software system offered as a
service

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Service configuration

 Branding, where users from each organization, are presented

with an interface that reflects their own organization.
 Business rules and workflows, where each organization
defines its own rules that govern the use of the service and its
data.
 Database extensions, where each organization defines how
the generic service data model is extended to meet its specific
needs.
 Access control, where service customers create individual
accounts for their staff and define the resources and functions
that are accessible to each of their users.

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Multi-tenancy

 Multi-tenancy is a situation in which many different users

access the same system and the system architecture is
defined to allow the efficient sharing of system
resources.
 It must appear to each user that they have the sole use
of the system.
 Multi-tenancy involves designing the system so that
there is an absolute separation between the system
functionality and the system data.

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A multitenant database

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Scalability

 Develop applications where each component is implemented

as a simple stateless service that may be run on any server.
 Design the system using asynchronous interaction so that the
application does not have to wait for the result of an
interaction (such as a read request).
 Manage resources, such as network and database
connections, as a pool so that no single server is likely to run
out of resources.
 Design your database to allow fine-grain locking. That is, do
not lock out whole records in the database when only part of a
record is in use.

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Key points

 The benefits of distributed systems are that they can be

scaled to cope with increasing demand, can continue to
provide user services if parts of the system fail, and they
enable resources to be shared.
 Issues to be considered in the design of distributed systems
include transparency, openness, scalability, security, quality of
service and failure management.
 Client–server systems are structured into layers, with the
presentation layer implemented on a client computer. Servers
provide data management, application and database services.
 Client-server systems may have several tiers, with different
layers of the system distributed to different computers.
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Key points

 Architectural patterns for distributed systems include master-

slave architectures, two-tier and multi-tier client-server
architectures, distributed component architectures and peer-
to-peer architectures.
 Distributed component systems require middleware to handle
component communications and to allow components to be
added to and removed from the system.
 Peer-to-peer architectures are decentralized with no
distinguished clients and servers. Computations can be
distributed over many systems in different organizations.
 Software as a service is a way of deploying applications as
thin client- server systems, where the client is a web browser.
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