NAMING
Names play an important role to:
share resources
uniquely identify entities
refer to locations etc.
an important issue is that a name can be resolved to the entity
it refers to
to resolve names, it is necessary to implement a naming
system
in a distributed system, the implementation of a naming system
is itself often distributed, unlike in non distributed systems
efficiency and scalability of the naming system are the main
issues
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4.1 Naming Entities
Names, Identifiers, and Addresses
a name in a distributed system is a string of bits or
characters that is used to refer to an entity
an entity is anything; e.g., resources such as hosts,
printers, disks, files, objects, processes, users, ...
entities can be operated on; e.g., a resource such as a
printer offers an interface containing operations for
printing a document, requesting the status of a job, ...
to operate on an entity, it is necessary to access it
through its access point, itself an entity (special)
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access point
the name of an access point is called an
address (such as IP address and port
number as used by the transport layer)
the address of the access point of an entity
is also referred to as the address of the
entity
an entity can have more than one access
point (similar to accessing an individual
through different telephone numbers)
an entity may change its access point in the
course of time (e.g., a mobile computer getting
a new IP address as it moves)
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an address is a special kind of name
it refers to at most one entity
each entity is referred by at most one address; even when
replicated such as in Web pages
an entity may change an access point, or an access point
may be reassigned to a different entity (like telephone
numbers in offices)
separating the name of an entity and its address makes it
easier and more flexible; such a name is called location
independent
there are also other types of names that uniquely identify an
entity; in any case an identifier is a name with the following
properties
it refers to at most one entity
each entity is referred by at most one identifier
it always refers to the same entity (never reused)
identifiers allow us to unambiguously refer to an entity
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examples
name of an FTP server (entity)
URL of the FTP server
address of the FTP server
IP number: port number
the address of the FTP server may
change
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4.2 Name Spaces and Name Resolution
names in a distributed system are organized into a name space
a name space is generally organized as a labeled, directed
graph with two types of nodes
leaf node: represents the named entity and stores
information such as its address or the state of that entity
directory node: a special entity that has a number of nodes
outgoing edges, each labeled with a name
a general naming graph with a single root node
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each node in a naming graph is considered as another entity
with an identifier
a directory node stores a table in which an outgoing edge is
represented as a pair (edge label, node identifier), called a
directory table
each path in a naming graph can be referred to by the
sequence of labels corresponding to the edges of the path
and the first node in the path, such as
N:<label1, label2, ..., labeln>, where N refers to the
first node in the path
such a sequence is called a path name
if the first node is the root of the naming graph, it is called an
absolute path name; otherwise it is a relative path name
instead of the path name n0:<home, steen, mbox>, we often
use its string representation /home/steen/mbox
there may also be several paths leading to the same node,
e.g., node n5 can be represented as /keys or
/home/steen/keys
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although the above naming graph is directed acyclic
graph (a node can have more than one incoming edge
but is not permitted to have a cycle), the common way is
to use a tree (hierarchical) with a single root (as is used
in file systems)
in a tree structure, each node except the root has
exactly one incoming edge; the root has no incoming
edges
each node also has exactly one associated (absolute)
path name
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Name Resolution
given a path name, the process of looking up a name stored
in the node is referred to as name resolution; it consists of
finding the address when the name is given (by following
the path)
Linking and Mounting
Linking: giving another name for the same entity (an alias)
e.g., environment variables in UNIX such as HOME that
refer to the home directory of a user
two types of links (or two ways to implement an alias):
hard link: to allow multiple absolute path names to refer
to the same node in a naming graph
e.g., in the previous graph, there are two different path
names for node n5: /keys and /home/steen/keys
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symbolic link: representing an entity by a leaf node and
instead of storing the address or state of the entity, the
node stores an absolute path name
the concept of a symbolic link explained in a naming graph
when first resolving an absolute path name stored in a
node (e.g., /home/steen/keys in node n6), name
resolution will return the path name stored in the node
(/keys), at which point it can continue with resolving that
new path name 10
so far name resolution was discussed as taking place
within a single name space
name resolution can also be used to merge different name
spaces in a transparent way
two methods: mounting and adding a new root node and
making the existing root nodes its children
1. Mounting
as an example, consider a mounted file system, which
can be generalized to other name spaces as well
let a directory node store the directory node from a
different (foreign) name space
the directory node storing the node identifier is called a
mount point
the directory node in the foreign name space is called a
mounting point, normally the root of a name space
during name resolution, the mounting point is looked up
and resolution proceeds by accessing its directory table
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consider a collection of name spaces distributed across
different machines (each name space implemented by a
different server)
to mount a foreign name space in a DS, the following are at
least required
the name of an access protocol (for communication)
the name of the server
the name of the mounting point
each of these names needs to be resolved
to the implementation of the protocol
to an address where the server can be reached
to a node identifier in the foreign name space
the three names can be listed as a URL
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example: Sun’s Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file
system with a protocol that describes how a client can access
a file stored on a (remote) NFS file server
an NFS URL may look like nfs://[Link]/home/steen
- nfs is an implementation of a protocol
- [Link] is a server name to be resolved using DNS
- /home/steen is resolved by the server
e.g., the subdirectory /remote includes mount points for
foreign name spaces on the client machine
a directory node named /remote/vu is used to store
nfs://[Link]/home/steen
consider /remote/vu/mbox
this name is resolved by starting at the root directory on
the client’s machine until node /remote/vu, which returns
the URL nfs://[Link]/home/steen
this leads the client machine to contact [Link]
using the NFS protocol
then the file mbox is read in the directory /home/steen
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mounting remote name spaces through a specific process protocol
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distributed systems that allow mounting a remote file
system also allow to execute some commands
example commands to access the file system
cd /remote/vu
ls -l
by doing so the user is not supposed to worry about the
details of the actual access; the name space on the local
machine and that on the remote machine look to form a
single name space
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2. Add a new root node and make the existing root nodes its
children
a method followed in GNS (Global Name Service by DEC)
problem: existing names need to be changed
e.g., the absolute path name /home/steen has now
changed to a relative path name and corresponds to the
absolute path name /vu/home/steen
hence the system must expand no:/home/steen to
/vu/home/steen without the awareness of users
this requires storing a mapping table (with entries such as
n0vu) when a new root node is added
merging thousands of name spaces may lead to
performance problems
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m0 oxford
n0 vu
organization of the DEC Global Name Service 17
The Implementation of a Name Space
a name space forms the heart of a naming service
a naming service allows users and processes to add,
remove, and lookup names
a naming service is implemented by name servers
for a distributed system on a single LAN, a single server
might suffice; for a large-scale distributed system the
implementation of a name space is distributed over multiple
name servers
Name Space Distribution
in large scale distributed systems, it is necessary to
distribute the name service over multiple name servers,
usually organized hierarchically
a name service can be partitioned into logical layers
the following three layers can be distinguished (Cheriton
and Mann)
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global layer
formed by highest level nodes (root node and nodes close
to it or its children)
nodes on this layer are characterized by their stability, i.e.,
directory tables are rarely changed
they may represent organizations, groups of
organizations, ..., where names are stored in the name
space
administrational layer
groups of entities that belong to the same organization or
administrational unit, e.g., departments
relatively stable
managerial layer
nodes that may change regularly, e.g., nodes representing
hosts of a LAN, shared files such as libraries or binaries
nodes are managed not only by system administrators,
but also by end users
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an example partitioning of the DNS name space,
including Internet-accessible files, into three layers 20
the name space is divided into nonoverlapping parts, called
zones in DNS
a zone is a part of the name space that is implemented by a
separate name server
some requirements of servers at different layers
performance (responsiveness to lookups), availability
(failure rate), etc.
high availability is critical for the global layer, since name
resolution cannot proceed beyond the failing server; it is
also important at the administrational layer for clients in the
same organization
performance is very important in the lowest layer, since
results of lookups can be cached and used due to the
relative stability of the higher layers
they may be enhanced by client side caching (global and
administrational layers since names do not change often)
and replication; they create implementation problems since
they may introduce inconsistency problems
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Implementation of Name Resolution
recall that name resolution consists of finding the address
when the name is given
assume that name servers are not replicated and that no
client-side caches are allowed
each client has access to a local name resolver, responsible
for ensuring that the name resolution process is carried out
e.g., assume the path name
root:<nl, vu, cs, ftp, pub, globe, [Link]>
is to be resolved
or using a URL notation, this path name would correspond
to [Link]
two ways of implementing name resolution
1. iterative name resolution
2. recursive name resolution
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[Link]
a name resolver hands over the complete name to the root
name server
the root server will resolve the name as far as it can and
return the result to the client; at the minimum it can resolve
the first level and sends the name of the first level name
server to the client
the client calls the first level name server, then the second, ...,
until it finds the address of the entity
the principle of iterative name resolution 23
2. Recursive
a name resolver hands over the whole name to the root name
server
the root server will try to resolve the name and if it can’t, it
requests the first level name server to resolve it and to return
the address
the first level will do the same thing recursively
the principle of recursive name resolution 24
Advantages and drawbacks
recursive name resolution puts a higher performance demand on each
name server; hence name servers in the global layer support only
iterative name resolution
caching is more effective with recursive name resolution; each name
server gradually learns the address of each name server responsible for
implementing lower-level nodes; eventually lookup operations can be
handled efficiently
Server for Should Looks Passes to Receives Returns to
node resolve up child and caches requester
cs <ftp> #<ftp> -- -- #<ftp>
vu <cs,ftp> #<cs> <ftp> #<ftp> #<cs>
#<cs, ftp>
nl <vu,cs,ftp> #<vu> <cs,ftp> #<cs> #<vu>
#<cs,ftp> #<vu,cs>
#<vu,cs,ftp>
root <nl,vu,cs,ftp> #<nl> <vu,cs,ftp> #<vu> #<nl>
#<vu,cs> #<nl,vu>
#<vu,cs,ftp> #<nl,vu,cs>
#<nl,vu,cs,ftp>
recursive name resolution of <nl, vu, cs, ftp>; name servers cache
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intermediate results for subsequent lookups
communication costs may be reduced in recursive name
resolution
Summary
Method Advantage(s)
Recursive Less Communication cost; Caching is more effective
Iterative Less performance demand on name servers
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Example 1 - The Domain Name System (DNS)
one of the largest distributed naming services is the Internet DNS
it is used for looking up host addresses and mail servers
hierarchical, defined in an inverted tree structure with the root at
the top
the tree can have only 128 levels
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THANK
YOU!!!
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