Distributed Operating System in OS

Distributed Operating System

Distributed operating system a software model set over a collection of networked, independent, communicating nodes which are physically separate from one another. These independent components process jobs which are assigned by multiple CPUs into the network. A distributed operating system is the extension of the network operating system which supports highly integrated machines which are connected to carry out a single task.  Some of its features are:

• The system has independent failure modes. It means that the system components may fail without affecting the rest of the system.
• All the components of the distributed system work at the same time.
• Each system component has its local clock. All the clocks of the different system might not record the same time. Also, the clock in each hardware may run at different rates. Such a feature is called Clock Drift and only occurs in the case of Distributed systems.
• The most powerful feature of a distributed system is scalability. The operating system supports growth and can be used for industrial purposes.

Learn more about types of operating system here.

Advantages of Distributed Operating System

• It delivers better performance than a single system.
• It is easily scalable.
• It allows resource sharing

Disadvantages of Distributed Operating System

• Sharing may cause security issues.
• Message loss occurs in the network.
• Resource overloading is an issue.

Examples of Distributed Operating Systems

• Ubuntu
• Windows Server 2012
• Linux (Apache Server)