jim@ci-dandelion.UUCP (Jim Fulton) (10/23/86)
Does anyone have suggestions for references that discuss the management of
physical resources in distributed (database) systems? For example, I'm
interested in learning of any work that has been done that looks at factors
such as the following and how they interact in designing and administering a
distributed system:
o a given set of physical resources (various types of hardware,
equipment for connecting it together, system management,
etc.). What sorts of advantages and problems arise from
using different mixes of equipment.
o a target user population (e.g. what mix of people with various
levels of experience). Different types of users will need
different types of hardware and administrative support
(e.g. novice consulting, advanced programming support, etc.).
o geographic constraints (central vs. distributed placement of
equipment and software; tradeoffs of trying to build a
single large system or several smaller "hub" systems that
are linked, etc.).
o types of services offered (e.g. single large database, mail,
distributed files system). Obviously the system has to
satisfy some set of requirements for its use, but what are
some of the major ones and how do they effect such a design.
I'm helping someone who is interested in approaching these sorts of issues, not
from a technical angle (i.e. citations on how LOCUS or GRAPEVINE do replication
or shadowing is not quite what he is looking for) but rather by applying some
techniques from the studies of organizational structure and behavior. It
would be geared towards the "given the task of putting together such a system
what are some of the important issues to address, and how do they interact"
types of questions.
Any suggestions for texts, articles, or other sources would be most welcome.
Jim Fulton
ARPA: fulton@eddie.mit.edu, jim@athena.mit.edu Billerica, MA
UUCP: ...!{mit-eddie,talcott}!ci-dandelion!jim (617) 667-4800