Centralized and Distributed Operating Systems

This book is a comprehensive study of the issues that arise in contemporary operating systems. It is directed at the advanced senior level and first-year graduate level operating systems courses. It progresses from concepts that apply generally to all operating systems (but specifically to centralized operating systesm) to principles of contemporary distributed operating systems. The distributed systems material includes an extensive treatment of networks, distributed storage (including distributed file systems), and remote procedure call. There is a summarising chapter that reviews implementation stategics with brief case studies of several significant operating systems including UNIX, Mach, Locus, Eden, Hydra, and the V system. Concepts are introduced using formal models with enough analysis to provide a perspective on the critical issues associated with the concept. The final chapter provides a more detailed discussion of various performance evaluation techniques used in operating system design and evaluation.