CST 402 - DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING

Question – Answer Bank

Module - III

Part A

1. What do you meant by mutual exclusion in a distributed environment?

Mutual exclusion is a fundamental problem in distributed computing systems.

Mutual exclusion ensures that concurrent access of processes to a shared

resource or data is serialized, that is, executed in a mutually exclusive manner.

Mutual exclusion in a distributed system states that only one process is allowed
to execute the critical section (CS) at any given time

There are three basic approaches for implementing distributed mutual

exclusion:

Token-based approach.

Non-token-based approach

.Quorum-based approach.

2. Discuss about various approaches for approaches for implementing

distributed mutual exclusion.

 There are three basic approaches for implementing distributed mutual

exclusion:

1. Token-based approach.

2. Non-token-based approach

3. .Quorum-based approach.

In the token-based approach, a unique token is shared among the sites.

A site is allowed to enter its CS if it possesses the token and it continues

to hold the token until the execution of the CS is over.

Mutual exclusion is ensured because the token is unique

 In the non-token-based approach, two or more successive rounds of
messages are exchanged among the sites to determine which site will
enter the CS next.

A site enters the critical section (CS) when an assertion, defined on its
local variables, becomes true.

In the quorum-based approach, each site requests permission to

execute the CS from a subset of sites (called a quorum).

The quorums are formed in such a way that when two sites concurrently
request access to the CS, at least one site receives both the requests and
this site is responsible to make sure that only one request executes the CS
at any time.

3. What are the requirements of mutual exclusion algorithms?

A mutual exclusion algorithm should satisfy the following properties:

Safety property:

The safety property states that at any instant, only one process can execute the
critical section.

This is an essential property of a mutual exclusion algorithm.

Liveness property :

This property states the absence of deadlock and starvation.

Two or more sites should not endlessly wait for messages that will never arrive.

In addition, a site must not wait indefinitely to execute the CS while other sites
are repeatedly executing the CS.

That is, every requesting site should get an opportunity to execute the CS in
finite time.

Fairness :

Fairness in the context of mutual exclusion means that each process gets a fair
chance to execute the CS.

In mutual exclusion algorithms, the fairness property generally means that the
CS execution requests are executed in order of their arrival in the system
4. What are the performance evaluation metrics of a mutual exclusion
algorithm?

Performance metrics

The performance of mutual exclusion algorithms is generally measured by the

following four metrics:

Message complexity : This is the number of messages that are required per CS
execution by a site

Synchronization delay : After a site leaves the CS, it is the time required and
before the next site enters the CS

Response time : This is the time interval a request waits for its CS execution to
be over after its request messages have been sent out

Performance metrics

5. List out the s strategies for handling deadlocks in a distributed

environment

Deadlocks can be dealt with using any one of the following three strategies:
deadlock prevention, deadlock avoidance, and deadlock detection.

Deadlock prevention is commonly achieved by either having a process acquire

all the needed resources simultaneously before it begins execution or by pre-
empting a process that holds the needed resource.

In the deadlock avoidance approach to distributed systems, a resource is

granted to a process if the resulting global system is safe.

Deadlock detection requires an examination of the status of the process–

resources interaction for the presence of a deadlock condition.
6. Discuss the issues in deadlock detection.

Issues in deadlock detection

Deadlock handling using the approach of deadlock detection entails addressing

two basic issues:

detection of existing deadlocks

resolution of detected deadlocks.

Detection of deadlocks

Detection of deadlocks involves addressing two issues: maintenance of the

WFG and searching of the WFG for the presence of cycles

Since, in distributed systems, a cycle or knot may involve several sites, the
search for cycles greatly depends upon how the WFG of the system is
represented across the system.

Depending upon the way WFG information is maintained and the search for
cycles is carried out

Correctness criteria

A deadlock detection algorithm must satisfy the following two conditions:

1. Progress (no undetected deadlocks) : The algorithm must detect all

existing deadlocks in a finite time.

after all wait-for dependencies for a deadlock have formed, the algorithm should
not wait for any more events to occur to detect the deadlock

2. Safety (no false deadlocks) : The algorithm should not report deadlocks that
do not exist (called phantom or false deadlocks).

In distributed systems where there is no global memory and there is no global

clock, it is difficult to design a correct deadlock detection algorithm because
sites may obtain an out-of-date and inconsistent WFG of the system.

As a result, sites may detect a cycle that never existed

7. Describe how quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithms differ from the
other categories of mutual exclusion algorithms.

In the quorum-based approach, each site requests permission to

execute the CS from a subset of sites (called a quorum).

The quorums are formed in such a way that when two sites concurrently
request access to the CS, at least one site receives both the requests and
this site is responsible to make sure that only one request executes the CS
at any time.

In the token-based approach, a unique token is shared among the sites.

A site is allowed to enter its CS if it possesses the token and it continues

to hold the token until the execution of the CS is over.

Mutual exclusion is ensured because the token is unique

In the non-token-based approach, two or more successive rounds of

messages are exchanged among the sites to determine which site will
enter the CS next.

A site enters the critical section (CS) when an assertion, defined on its
local variables, becomes true.
8. Calculate the rate at which a system can execute the critical section requests if the
synchronization delay and average critical section execution times are 3 and 1 second
respectively.

Rate of CS execution, System throughput = 1 / ( Sync. Delay + Avg. CS execution time )

=1/(3+1)=¼

PART B

1. Explain Lamports algorithm for mutual exclusion

Lamport developed a distributed mutual exclusion algorithm as an illustration of

his clock synchronization scheme

The algorithm is fair in the sense that a request for CS are executed in the order
of their timestamps and time is determined by logical clocks.
When a site processes a request for the CS, it updates its local clock and assigns
the request a timestamp.

The algorithm executes CS requests in the increasing order of timestamps.

Every site Si keeps a queue, request_queuei, which contains mutual exclusion

requests ordered by their timestamps.

This algorithm requires communication channels to deliver messages in FIFO

order.

2. Explain Ricart–Agrawala algorithm.

 The Ricart–Agrawala algorithm assumes that the communication

channels are FIFO.

 The algorithm uses two types of messages: REQUEST and REPLY.

 A process sends a REQUEST message to all other processes to request

their permission to enter the critical section.
 A process sends a REPLY message to a process to give its permission to
that process.

 Processes use Lamport-style logical clocks to assign a timestamp to

critical section requests.

 Timestamps are used to decide the priority of requests in case of conflict

 if a process pi that is waiting to execute the critical section receives a

REQUEST message from process pj,

 then if the priority of pj’s request is lower, pi defers the REPLY to pj and
sends a REPLY message to pj only after executing the CS for its pending
request.

 Otherwise, pi sends a REPLY message to pj immediately, provided it is

currently not executing the CS.

 Each process pi maintains the request-deferred array, RDi, the size of

which is the same as the number of processes in the system.

 Initially, ∀i ∀j: Rdi[j] = 0.

3. Explain Quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithms. / Explain
Maekawa’s algorithm for mutual exclusion./ Discuss the three types of
messages required for deadlock handling in Maekawa’s algorithm. Explain
how Maekawa’s algorithm handles deadlocks

 Quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithms respresented a departure

from the trend in the following two ways:

 A site does not request permission from all other sites, but only from a
subset of the sites.

 This is a radically different approach as compared to the Lamport and

Ricart–Agrawala algorithms, where all sites participate in conflict
resolution of all other sites

 In quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithm, a site can send out only one
REPLY message at any time.

 A site can send a REPLY message only after it has received a RELEASE
message for the previous REPLY message.

 Therefore, a site Si locks all the sites in Ri in exclusive mode before

executing its CS.

 Quorum-based mutual exclusion algorithms significantly reduce the

message complexity of invoking mutual exclusion by having sites ask
permission from only a subset of sites.

 Since these algorithms are based on the notion of “Coteries” and

“Quorums,” we first describe the idea of coteries and quorums.

 A coterie C is defined as a set of sets, where each set g ∈C is called a

quorum. The following properties hold for quorums in a coterie:

 Intersection property

 Minimality property

 Coteries and quorums can be used to develop algorithms to ensure mutual

exclusion in a distributed environment

 A simple protocol works as follows: let “a” be a site in quorum “A.”

  If “a” wants to invoke mutual exclusion, it requests permission from all
sites in its quorum “A.”

 Minimality property ensures efficiency

 Maekawa’s algorithm was the first quorum-based mutual exclusion

algorithm.

 This algorithm requires delivery of messages to be in the order they are

sent between every pair of sites.

4. Illustrate Suzuki–Kasami’s broadcast algorithm

 In Suzuki–Kasami’s algorithm if a site that wants to enter the CS does not

have the token, it broadcasts a REQUEST message for the token to all
other sites.

 A site that possesses the token sends it to the requesting site upon the
receipt of its REQUEST message.

 If a site receives a REQUEST message when it is executing the CS, it

sends the token only after it has completed the execution of the CS
  Although the basic idea underlying this algorithm may sound rather
simple, there are two design issues that must be efficiently addressed:

 1. How to distinguishing an outdated REQUEST message from a current

REQUEST message

 2. How to determine which site has an outstanding request for the CS

5. Explain with example, how wait-for-graphs can be used in deadlock

detection.

Wait-for graph (WFG)

 In distributed systems, the state of the system can be modeled by directed

graph, called a wait-for graph (WFG).

 In a WFG, nodes are processes and there is a directed edge from node P1
to node P2 if P1 is blocked and is waiting for P2 to release some resource.

 A system is deadlocked if and only if there exists a directed cycle or knot

in the WFG
6. Explain / compare various models of deadlocks. / Explain any different models
of deadlock

Models of deadlocks

Distributed systems allow many kinds of resource requests.

A process might require a single resource or a combination of resources for its

execution

Models of deadlocks introduces a hierarchy of request models starting with very

restricted forms to the ones with no restrictions

1. The single-resource model

The single-resource model is the simplest resource model in a distributed

system, where a process can have at most one outstanding request for only one
unit of a resource.

Since the maximum out-degree of a node in a WFG for the single resource
model can be 1, the presence of a cycle in the WFG shall indicate that there is a
deadlock

2. The AND model

 In the AND model, a process can request more than one resource
simultaneously and the request is satisfied only after all the requested
resources are granted to the process.
  The requested resources may exist at different locations.

 The out degree of a node in the WFG for AND model can be more than 1.

 The presence of a cycle in the WFG indicates a deadlock in the AND

model.

3. The OR model

In the OR model, a process can make a request for numerous resources

simultaneously and the request is satisfied if any one of the requested resources
is granted.

The requested resources may exist at different locations.

If all requests in the WFG are OR requests, then the nodes are called OR nodes.

Presence of a cycle in the WFG of an OR model does not imply a deadlock in

the OR model.

3. The AND-OR model

A generalization of the previous two models (OR model and AND model) is the
AND-OR model.

In the AND-OR model, a request may specify any combination of and and or in
the resource request.

For example, in the ANDOR model, a request for multiple resources can be of
the form x and (y or z).

4.

Another form of the AND-OR model is the ( p q )model (called the P-out-of-Q
model), which allows a request to obtain any k available resources from a pool
of n resources.

Both the models are the same in expressive power.

model lends itself to a much more compact formation of a request

Every request in the model can be expressed in the AND-OR model and vice-
versa
5. Unrestricted model

In the unrestricted model, no assumptions are made regarding the underlying

structure of resource requests.

Only one assumption that the deadlock is stable is made and hence it is the most
general model.

This model helps separate concerns: Concerns about properties of the problem
(stability and deadlock) are separated from underlying distributed systems
computations (e.g., message passing versus synchronous communication).

7. Explain in detail about deadlock handling strategies in a distributed

environment

System model

A distributed system consists of a set of processors that are connected by a

communication network.

The communication delay is finite but unpredictable.

A distributed program is composed of a set of n asynchronous processes P1, P2,

, Pi, , Pn that communicate by message passing over the communication
network.

 Without loss of generality we assume that each process is running on a

different processor.

 The processors do not share a common global memory and communicate

solely by passing messages over the communication network.

 There is no physical global clock in the system to which processes have

instantaneous access.

 The communication medium may deliver messages out of order,

messages may be lost, garbled, or duplicated due to timeout and
retransmission, processors may fail, and communication links may go
down.

 The system can be modeled as a directed graph in which vertices

represent the processes and edges represent unidirectional communication
channels.
We make the following assumptions:

 The systems have only reusable resources.

 Processes are allowed to make only exclusive access to resources.

 There is only one copy of each resource.

 A process can be in two states, running or blocked. In the running state

(also called active state),

 a process has all the needed resources and is either executing or is ready
for execution.

 In the blocked state, a process is waiting to acquire some resource.

Deadlock handling strategies

There are three strategies for handling deadlocks,

 deadlock prevention,

 deadlock avoidance,

 deadlock detection.

Handling of deadlocks becomes highly complicated in distributed systems

because no site has accurate knowledge of the current state of the system and
because every inter-site communication involves a finite and unpredictable
delay.

Deadlock prevention is commonly achieved either by having a process

acquire all the needed resources simultaneously before it begins executing or by
pre-empting a process that holds the needed resource.

This approach is highly inefficient and impractical in distributed systems.

In deadlock avoidance approach to distributed systems, a resource is granted to

a process if the resulting global system state is safe.

Due to several problems, however, deadlock avoidance is impractical in

distributed systems.

Deadlock detection requires an examination of the status of process– resource

interactions for the presence of cyclic wait.
Deadlock detection in distributed systems seems to be the best approach to
handle deadlocks in distributed systems.

8. Site S1, S2 , s3 contains process as listed below.

S1 : P17,P32,P61,P72

S2: P33, P44, P7

S3: P91,P6,P23,P28

Resources available are R1, R2, R7

All process in site 2 is demanding for Resource R7, while R7 is assigned to the
first process in site three. Second process in site 2 is demanding resource held by
third process in site 1. Evaluate the global state scenario and examine whether
the resultant is in a deadlocked condition.