A distributed system architecture for a distributed application environment

Abstract

Advances in communications technology, development of powerful desktop workstations, and increased user demands for sophisticated applications are rapidly changing computing from a traditional centralized model to a distributed one. The tools and services for supporting the design, development, deployment, and management of applications in such an environment must change as well. This paper is concerned with the architecture and framework of services required to support distributed applications through this evolution to new environments. In particular, the paper outlines our rationale for a peer-to-peer view of distributed systems, presents motivation for our research directions, describes an architecture, and reports on some preliminary experiences with a prototype system.