Distributed application support: Survey and synthesis of existing approaches

Abstract

Great advances have been achieved in distributed systems during the last decade. In particular, a rapid technological deployment has taken place in communication networks and protocols. On top of basic communication protocols, several higher-level communication facilities have been developed to support distributed applications. From the application point of view, there is a growing demand for distributed programming. Important example areas are computer-integrated manufacturing and office automation. The paper surveys the distributed application support area, especially focusing on distributed programming and configuration techniques, use of object-oriented techniques, and development support. Several existing approaches are classified and compared with each other. Important communication approaches covered are extended message passing and remote procedure call facilities, as well as new distributed object-oriented interaction mechanisms and multiparty communication support. Important distributed configuration management issues include placement and structure support for distributed applications, dynamic configuration change support, and associated configuration languages. Details are derived from foreign system developments as well as from personal experiences with distributed systems. As an integration effort, the architecture of an object-oriented environment for distributed application development support is outlined. The paper is for researchers interested in further work in the area of distributed systems and software developers interested in a survey of existing mechanisms to support their development work. © 1990.