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Short note: Distributed OS

Short answer

A distributed operating system manages networked computers as a single machine, providing transparency, global resource management, inter-process communication via RPC, distributed file system, and fault tolerance. It is rarely used directly; instead its functions are implemented as middleware over existing network OS.

Write a short note on Distributed OS.

A distributed operating system (DOS) manages a group of independent, networked computers and presents them to users as a single computer. It hides the existence of many machines and controls their resources as one pool.

Characteristics

  • Transparency: location, migration, replication, concurrency and failure.
  • Global resource management: global scheduling, load balancing and process migration.
  • Inter-process communication: message passing, RPC and group communication between nodes.
  • Distributed file system with a common name space.
  • Fault tolerance and reliability through replication and recovery.
  • Scalability and flexibility, often built on a microkernel.

Differences from a network OS: the users in a DOS do not know on which machine their programs run, while in a NOS each machine has its own OS and users log in to a particular one.

Examples: Amoeba, Mach, Sprite, V-system, Plan 9.

Problems: needs same OS on all nodes, poor scalability, complex design; so in practice the idea is realised as middleware over network operating systems.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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