Distributed Algorithms for Message-Passing Systems

Description

Distributed computing is at the heart of many applications. It arises as soon as one has to solve a problem in terms of entities -- such as processes, peers, processors, nodes, or agents -- that individually have only a partial knowledge of the many input parameters associated with the problem. In particular each entity cooperating towards the common goal cannot have an instantaneous knowledge of the current state of the other entities. Whereas parallel computing is mainly concerned with 'efficiency', and real-time computing is mainly concerned with 'on-time computing', distributed computing is mainly concerned with 'mastering uncertainty' created by issues such as the multiplicity of control flows, asynchronous communication, unstable behaviors, mobility, and dynamicity.   While some distributed algorithms consist of a few lines only, their behavior can be difficult to understand and their properties hard to state and prove. The aim of this book is to present in a comprehensive way the basic notions, concepts, and algorithms of distributed computing when the distributed entities cooperate by sending and receiving messages on top of an asynchronous network. The book is composed of seventeen chapters structured into six parts: distributed graph algorithms, in particular what makes them different from sequential or parallel algorithms; logical time and global states, the core of the book; mutual exclusion and resource allocation; high-level communication abstractions; distributed detection of properties; and distributed shared memory. The author establishes clear objectives per chapter and the content is supported throughout with illustrative examples, summaries, exercises, and annotated bibliographies.   This book constitutes an introduction to distributed computing and is suitable for advanced undergraduate students or graduate students in computer science and computer engineering, graduate students in mathematics interested in distributed computing, and practitioners and engineers involved in the design and implementation of distributed applications. The reader should have a basic knowledge of algorithms and operating systems. Front Matter....Pages I-XXXI Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Basic Definitions and Network Traversal Algorithms....Pages 3-34 Distributed Graph Algorithms....Pages 35-58 An Algorithmic Framework to Compute Global Functions on a Process Graph....Pages 59-76 Leader Election Algorithms....Pages 77-92 Mobile Objects Navigating a Network....Pages 93-117 Front Matter....Pages 119-119 Nature of Distributed Computations and the Concept of a Global State....Pages 121-148 Logical Time in Asynchronous Distributed Systems....Pages 149-188 Asynchronous Distributed Checkpointing....Pages 189-218 Simulating Synchrony on Top of Asynchronous Systems....Pages 219-244 Front Matter....Pages 245-245 Permission-Based Mutual Exclusion Algorithms....Pages 247-275 Distributed Resource Allocation....Pages 277-300 Front Matter....Pages 301-301 Order Constraints on Message Delivery....Pages 303-334 Rendezvous (Synchronous) Communication....Pages 335-364 Front Matter....Pages 365-365 Distributed Termination Detection....Pages 367-399 Distributed Deadlock Detection....Pages 401-423 Front Matter....Pages 425-425 Atomic Consistency (Linearizability)....Pages 427-446 Sequential Consistency....Pages 447-470 Back Matter....Pages 471-500