Amoeba - distributed operating system

The Amoeba distributed operating system project [Tanenbaum et al., Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam] was a research effort aimed at understanding how to connect computers together in a seemless way. The basic idea is to provide the users with the illusion of a single powerful timesharing system, when in fact, the system is implememented on a collection of machines, potentially distributed among several countries. This research has led to the design of the Amoeba distributed operating system, which is being used as a prototype and vehicle for further research. In this paper we will discuss the current state of the Amoeba operating system and discuss some of the lessons learnt in the course of design and implemention of the system. The chief goal of the research effort is to build a distributed operating system that is transparent to the users. This concept can best be illustrated by contrasting it with a network operating system, in which each machine retains its own identity. With a network operating system, each user logs into one specific machine, his home machine. When a program is started, it executes on the home machine, unless the user gives an explicit command to run it elsewhere. Similarly, files are local unless a remote file system is explicitly mounted or files are explicitly copied. In short, the user is clearly aware that multiple independent computers exist, and must deal with them explicitly. In a transparent distributed operating system, in contrast, users effectively log into the system as a whole, and not to a specific machine. When a program is run, the system, not the user, decides the best place to run it. The user isnot even aware of this choice. Finally, there is a single, system wide file system. The files in a single directory may be located on different machines possibly in different countries. There is no concept of file transfer, uploading or downloading from servers, or mounting remote file systems. A file's position in the directory hierarchy has no relation to its location.

Old Official Vrije Amoeba 5.3 Manuals

userman

Amoeba User Manual

sysman

Amoeba System Administration Manual

proman

Amoeba Programming Manual

Papers about Amoeba

General Informations

intro

Tanenbaum, Andrew .S.:
"The Amoeba Distributed Operating System"

group94

Kaashoek, M.F., and Tanenbaum, A.S.:
"Efficient Reliable Group Communication for Distributed Systems"
(submitted for publication, 1994

group94

Kaashoek, M.F., and Tanenbaum, A.S.:
"Efficient Reliable Group Communication for Distributed Systems"
(submitted for publication, 1994)

tocs93

Kaashoek, M.F., van Renesse, R., van Staveren, H., and Tanenbaum,A.S.:
"FLIP: an Internetwork Protocol for Supporting Distributed Systems,"
ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, pp. 73-106, Feb. 1993.

dcs93

Kaashoek, M.F., Tanenbaum, A.S., and Verstoep, K.:
"Using Group Communication to Implement a Fault-Tolerant Directory
Service," Proc Thirteenth Int'l Conf. on Distributed Computing
Systems, IEEE, pp. 130-139, 1993.

dse93

Kaashoek, M.F., Tanenbaum, A.S., and Verstoep, K.:
"Group Communication in Amoeba and its Applications,"
Distributed Systems Engineering Journal, vol 1, pp. 48-58, July 1993.

sigops92

Kaashoek, M.F., Tanenbaum, A.S., and Verstoep, K.:
"A Comparison of Two Paradigms for Distributed Computing,"
Proc. Fifth ACM SIGOPS Workshop, Le Mont St. Michel, France, 1992.

comcom91

Tanenbaum, A.S., Kaashoek, M.F., Renesse, R. van, and Bal, H.:
"The Amoeba Distributed Operating System-A Status Report,"
Computer Communications, vol. 14, pp. 324-335, July/August 1991.

cs91

Douglis, F., Kaashoek, M.F., Tanenbaum, A.S., and Ousterhout, J.K.:
"A Comparison of Two Distributed Systems: Amoeba and Sprite,"
Computing Systems, vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 353-384, Dec. 1991.

cacm90

Tanenbaum, A.S., Renesse, R. van, Staveren, H. van., Sharp,
G.J., Mullender, S.J., Jansen, A.J., and Rossum, G. van:
"Experiences with the Amoeba Distributed Operating System,"
Commun. ACM, vol. 33, pp. 46-63, Dec. 1990.

spe89

Renesse, R. van, Staveren, H. van, and Tanenbaum, A.S.:
"Performance of the Amoeba Distributed Operating System,"
Software--Practice and Experience, vol. 19, pp. 223-234, March 1989.

cs88

Baalbergen, E.H.:
"Design and Implementation of Parallel Make,"
Computing Systems, vol. 1, pp. 135-158, Spring 1988.

dcs86

Tanenbaum, A.S., Mullender, S.J., and Renesse, R. van:
"Using Sparse Capabilities in a Distributed Operating System,"
Proc. Sixth Int'l Conf on Distributed Computing Systems,
IEEE, pp. 558-563, 1986.

tromso94

Tanenbaum, A.S, Kaashoek, M.F.,
"The Amoeba Microkernel",
1994

scm89

Baalbergen, Erik. H, Verstoep, Kees, Tanenbaum, A.S,
"On the design of the Amoeba Configuration Manager",
1989

tr-cosc95

Ashton, Paul,
"An interaction network monitor for Amoeba"
1995

amoeba

Doorn, Leendert van
"The Distributed Operating system Amoeba"
Short Draft Paper

Papers about distributed programming (ORCA)

oopsla93

Bal, H.E. and Kaashoek, M.F.:
"Object Distribution in Orca using Compile-Time and Run-Time Techniques",
Conference on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and
Applications (OOPSLA '93), Sep. 1993, Washington D.C., pp. 162-177.

sedms93

Bhoedjang, R., Ruhl, T., Hofman, R., Langendoen, K, and Bal, H.:
"Panda: A Portable Platform to Support Parallel Programming Languages,"
Symposium on Experiences with Distributed and Multiprocessor
Systems III, Newport Beach, March 1992, pp. 297-312

cpe92

Bal, H.E., Kaashoek, M.F., Tanenbaum, A.S., and Jansen, J.:
"Replication Techniques for Speeding up Parallel Applications on
Distributed Systems",
Concurrency Practice & Experience, Vol. 4, No. 5,
pp. 337-355, Aug. 1992

ieee92

Tanenbaum, A.S., Kaashoek, M.F., and Bal, H.E.:
"Parallel Programming using Shared Objects and Broadcasting",
IEEE Computer, Vol. 25, No. 8,
Aug. 1992, pp. 10-19.

spe92

Levelt, W.G., Kaashoek, M.F. Bal, H.E., and Tanenbaum, A.S.:
"A Comparison of Two Paradigms for Distributed Shared Memory"
Software--Practice and Experience, vol. 22,
Nov. 1992, pp. 985-1010.

tse92

Bal. H.E., Kaashoek, M.F., and Tanenbaum A.S.:
"Orca: A Language for Parallel Programming of Distributed Systems",
IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering,
vol. 18, No. 3, March 1992, pp. 190-205.

sedms92

Kaashoek, M.F., Michiels, R., Bal. H.E., and Tanenbaum A.S,:
"Transparent Fault-tolerance in Parallel Orca Programs"
Symposium on Experiences with Distributed and Multiprocessor
Systems III, Newport Beach, March 1992, pp. 297-312

europen91

Bal, H.E.:
"A Comparative Study of Five Parallel Programming Languages,"
EurOpen Spring 1991 Conference on Open Distributed Systems, Tromso,
20-24 May 1991, pp. 209-228 (Best Paper Award).

Network protocols (FLIP)

flip

Kaashoek, F, Renesse, R. van, Staeveren, H. van
"Fast Local Internet Protocol FLIP"
Short Draft Papers

tocs93

Kaashoek, M.F., van Renesse, R., van Staveren, H., and Tanenbaum,A.S.:
"FLIP: an Internetwork Protocol for Supporting Distributed Systems,"
ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, pp. 73-106, Feb. 1993.

Compiler (Amsterdamer Compiler Kit)

IR-105

Jacobes, Ceriel J.H.
"Some Topics in Parser Generation"
??

IR81

Tanenbaum, A.S, Staveren, H. van, Keizer, Ed G., Stevenson, J.W.,
"Description of a machine architecture for use with
Block Structured Languages",
1983, Informatica Rapport IR-81

Load balancing and process migration

acsc99

Steketee, C. F., Process:
"Migration and Load Balancing in Amoeba",
Australian Computer Science Communications 21(1), 324-335, 1999.

part95

Allwright, A. and Steketee, C.F., Modelling:
"the Performance of Distributed Database Protocols for Real Time Environments",
Proc. 4th Annual Australasian Conference on Parallel And Real-Time Systems (PART 97).
University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia, Springer Verlag, pp. 379-390, 1997.

acsc96

Steketee, C. F., Socko, P., and Kiepuszewski, B.:
"Experiences with the Implementation of a Process Migration Mechanism for Amoeba",
Australian Computer Science Communications 18(1),
140-148, 1996.

acsc95

Zhu, W.P., Steketee, C.F. and Muilwijk, B.:
"Load Balancing and Workstation Autonomy on Amoeba",
Australian Computer Science Communications
17(1), 588-597, 1995.

aizu

Zhu, W.P. and Steketee, C.F.:
"An Experimental Study of Load Balancing on Amoeba",
Proc. AIZU International Symposium on Parallel Algorithms / Architecture Synthesis
Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, IEEE Computer Society Press
220-226, 1995.

icdcs14

Steketee, C.F., Zhu, W.P. and Moseley, P.A.:
"Implementation of Process Migration in Amoeba",
Proc. 14th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems
Poznan, Poland. IEEE Computer Society Press,
194-201, 199