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17.3 ■ Architectural patterns for distributed systems 501
Presentation
Data handling
Application processing
Figure 17.6 Layered
architectural model for
client–server application
Database
17.3 Architectural patterns for distributed systems
As I explained in the introduction to this chapter, designers of distributed systems
have to organize their system designs to find a balance between performance, dependability,
security, and manageability of the system. Because no universal model of
system organization is appropriate for all circumstances, various distributed architectural
styles have emerged. When designing a distributed application, you should
choose an architectural style that supports the critical non-functional requirements of
your system.
In this section, I discuss five architectural styles:
1. Master-slave architecture, which is used in real-time systems in which guaranteed
interaction response times are required.
2. Two-tier client–server architecture, which is used for simple client–server systems
and in situations where it is important to centralize the system for security reasons.
3. Multi-tier client–server architecture, which is used when the server has to process
a high volume of transactions.
4. Distributed component architecture, which is used when resources from different
systems and databases need to be combined, or as an implementation model
for multi-tier client–server systems.
5. Peer-to-peer architecture, which is used when clients exchange locally stored
information and the role of the server is to introduce clients to each other. It
may also be used when a large number of independent computations may have
to be made.
17.3.1 Master–slave architectures
Master–slave architectures for distributed systems are commonly used in realtime
systems. In those systems, there may be separate processors associated with
data acquisition from the system’s environment, data processing and computation,