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An Introduction | Splunk

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What Are Distributed

Systems?

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A distributed system is a computing environment in

which various components are spread across multiple
computers (or other computing devices) on a network.
These devices split up the work, coordinating their Ready to learn more about
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efforts to complete the job more efficiently than if a
single device had been responsible for the task.

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Distributed systems are an important development for

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IT and computer science as an increasing number of
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be impossible for a single computer to handle them
alone. But distributed computing offers additional
advantages over traditional computing environments.
Distributed systems reduce the risks involved with
having a single point of failure, bolstering reliability and
fault tolerance. Modern distributed systems are
generally designed to be scalable in near real-time; also,
you can spin up additional computing resources on the
fly, increasing performance and further reducing time to
completion.

Historically, distributed computing was expensive,

complex to configure and difficult to manage. But
thanks to software as a service (SaaS) platforms that
offer expanded functionality, distributed computing has
become more streamlined and affordable for
businesses large and small. As a result, all types of
computing jobs — from database management to video
games — use distributed computing. In fact, many
types of software, such as cryptocurrency systems,
scientific simulations, blockchain technologies andReady
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platforms, wouldn’t be possible at all without these
platforms.

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In this article, we’ll explore the operation of such

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systems, the challenges and risks of these platforms,
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9/23/22, 2:57 PM What Are Distributed Systems? An Introduction | Splunk

What Are Distributed Systems: Support   

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Contents
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In This Article Additional Resources
Elements of Distributed  Observability Success
Systems Stories

Challenges and Benefits

 Installing and Managing
of Distributed Systems Splunk Stream in a
Distributed
Distributed Systems Use Environment
Cases  Data Insider home

The Bottom Line: The

future of computing is
built around distributed
systems

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Elements of Distributed Support   

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How does a distributed system work?

Distributed systems have evolved over time, but today’s
most common implementations are largely designed to
operate via the internet and, more specifically, the
cloud. A distributed system begins with a task, such as
rendering a video to create a finished product ready for
release.

The web application, or distributed applications,

managing this task — like a video editor on a client
computer — splits the job into pieces. In this simple
example, the algorithm gives one frame of the video to
each of a dozen different computers (or nodes) to
complete the rendering. Once the frame is complete,
the managing application gives the node a new frame to
work on. This process continues until the video is
finished and all the pieces are put back together.

A system like this doesn’t have to stop at just 12 nodes

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— the job may be distributed among hundreds or even
thousands of nodes, turning a task that might have
taken days for a single computer to complete into one
that is finished in a matter of minutes.
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What are the types of distributed systems?
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There are many models and architectures of distributed

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systems in use today.
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• Client-server systems, the most traditional and 
simple type of distributed system, involve a
multitude of networked computers that interact
with a central server for data storage, processing or
other common goal.

• Cell phone networks are an advanced type of

distributed system that share workloads among
handsets, switching systems and internet-based
devices.

• Peer-to-peer networks, in which workloads are

distributed among hundreds or thousands of
computers all running the same software, are
another example of a distributed system
architecture.

• The most common forms of distributed systems in

the enterprise today are those that operate over the
web, handing off workloads to dozens of cloud-
based virtual server instances that are created as
needed, then terminated when the task is complete.
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What are key characteristics of a distributed

system?
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Distributed systems are commonly defined by the

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following key characteristics and features:
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• Scalability: The ability to grow as the size of the 
workload increases is an essential feature of
distributed systems, accomplished by adding
additional processing units or nodes to the network
as needed.

• Concurrency: Distributed system components run

simultaneously. They’re also characterized by the
lack of a “global clock,” when tasks occur out of
sequence and at different rates.

• Availability/fault tolerance: If one node fails, the

remaining nodes can continue to operate without
disrupting the overall computation.

• Transparency: An external programmer or end user

sees a distributed system as a single computational
unit rather than as its underlying parts, allowing
users to interact with a single logical device rather
than being concerned with the system’s
architecture.

• Heterogeneity: In most distributed systems, theReady to learn more about

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nodes and components are often asynchronous,
with different hardware, middleware, software and
operating systems. This allows the distributed
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systems to be extended with the addition of new

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components.
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Distributed systems enable shared 
information and messaging, ensuring consistency
between redundant resources, such as software or
hardware components, improving fault tolerance,
reliability and accessibility.

What is distributed tracing?

Distributed tracing, sometimes called distributed
request tracing, is a method for monitoring applications
— typically those built on a microservices architecture
— which are commonly deployed on distributed
systems. Distributed tracing is essentially a form of
distributed computing in that it’s commonly used to
monitor the operations of applications running on
distributed systems.

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In software development and operations, tracing is

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used to follow the course of a transaction as it travels
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transaction as it winds its way from a customer’s initial
purchase to the verification and approval process to
the completion of the transaction, for example. A
tracing system monitors this process step by step,
helping a developer to uncover bugs, bottlenecks,
latency or other problems with the application.

Distributed tracing is necessary because of the

considerable complexity of modern software
architectures. A distributed tracing system is designed
to operate on a distributed services infrastructure,
where it can track multiple applications and processes
simultaneously across numerous concurrent nodes and
computing environments.

Without distributed tracing, an application built on a

microservices architecture and running on a system as
large and complex as a globally distributed system
environment would be impossible to monitor
effectively.
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What are patterns in a distributed system?

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A software design pattern is a programming language

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defined as an ideal solution to a contextualized
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to common problems that represent the best practices
available at the time, and while they don’t provide
finished code, they provide replication capabilities and
offer guidance on how to solve a certain issue or
implement a needed feature.

When thinking about the challenges of a distributed

computing platform, the trick is to break it down into a
series of interconnected patterns; simplifying the
system into smaller, more manageable and more easily
understood components helps abstract a complicated
architecture. Patterns are commonly used to describe
distributed systems, such as command and query
responsibility segregation (CQRS) and two-phase
commit (2PC). Different combinations of patterns are
used to design distributed systems, and each approach
has unique benefits and drawbacks.

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Benefits, Challenges and Risks Support   

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What are the benefits of distributed systems?

Distributed systems offer a number of advantages over
monolithic, or single, systems, including:

• Greater flexibility: It is easier to add computing

power as the need for services grows. In most cases
today, you can add servers to a distributed system
on the fly.

• Reliability: A well-designed distributed system can

withstand failures in one or more of its nodes
without severely impacting performance. In a
monolithic system, the entire application goes down
if the server goes down.

• Enhanced speed: Heavy traffic can bog down single

servers when traffic gets heavy, impacting
performance for everyone. The scalability of
distributed databases and other distributed
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systems makes them easier to maintain and also
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sustain high-performance levels.

• Geo-distribution: Distributed content delivery is

both intuitive for any internet user, and vital for
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9/23/22, 2:57 PM What Are Distributed Systems? An Introduction | Splunk

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systems? 

Distributed systems are considerably more complex

than monolithic computing environments, and raise a
number of challenges around design, operations and
maintenance. These include:

• Increased opportunities for failure: The more

systems added to a computing environment, the
more opportunity there is for failure. If a system is
not carefully designed and a single node crashes,
the entire system can go down. While distributed
systems are designed to be fault tolerant, that fault
tolerance isn’t automatic or foolproof.

• Synchronization process challenges: Distributed

systems work without a global clock, requiring
careful programming to ensure that processes are
properly synchronized to avoid transmission delays
that result in errors and data corruption. In a
complex system — such as a multiplayer video
game — synchronization can be challenging, Ready to learn more about
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especially on a public network that carries data
traffic.

• Imperfect scalability: Doubling the number of

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9/23/22, 2:57 PM What Are Distributed Systems? An Introduction | Splunk

double performance. Architecting an effective

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distributed system that maximizes scalability is a
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account load balancing, bandwidth management
and other issues.

• More complex security: Managing a large number

of nodes in a heterogeneous or globally distributed
environment creates numerous security challenges.
A single weak link in a file system or larger
distributed system network can expose the entire
system to attack.

• Increased complexity: Distributed systems are

more complex to design, manage and understand
than traditional computing environments.

What are the risks of distributed systems?

The challenges of distributed systems as outlined
above create a number of correlating risks. These
include:

• Security: Distributed systems are as vulnerableReady

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attack as any other system, but their distributed
nature creates a much larger attack surface that
exposes organizations to threats.
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• Risk of network failure: Distributed systems are Support   

beholden to public networks in order to transmit
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becomes unavailable or overloaded, distributed
system performance may decline.

• Governance and control issues: Distributed

systems lack the governability of monolithic, single-
server-based systems, creating auditing and
adherence issues around global privacy laws such
as GDPR. Globally distributed environments can
impose barriers to providing certain levels of
assurance and impair visibility into where data
resides.

• Cost control: Unlike centralized systems, the

scalability of distributed systems allows
administrators to easily add additional capacity as
needed, which can also increase costs. Pricing for
cloud-based distributed computing systems are
based on usage (such as the number of memory
resources and CPU power consumed over time). If
demand suddenly spikes, organizations can face a
massive bill.
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How do you apply access control in

distributed systems?
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Administrators use a variety of approaches to manage

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access control in distributed computing environments,
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role-based access control (RBAC).

One of the most promising access control mechanisms

for distributed systems is attribute-based access
control (ABAC), which controls access to objects and
processes using rules that include information about
the user, the action requested and the environment of
that request. Administrators can also refine these types
of roles to restrict access to certain times of day or
certain locations.

Distributed Systems Use Cases

How are distributed systems used?

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Distributed systems are used when a workload is too

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great for a single computer or device to handle. They’re
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to change, such as e-commerce traffic on Cyber
Monday. Today, virtually every internet-connected web
application that exists is built on top of some form of
distributed system.

Some of the most common examples of distributed

systems:

• Telecommunications networks (including cellular

networks and the fabric of the internet)

• Graphical and video-rendering systems

• Scientific computing, such as protein folding and
genetic research

• Airline and hotel reservation systems

• Multiuser video conferencing systems
• Cryptocurrency processing systems (e.g. Bitcoin)
• Peer-to-peer file-sharing systems (e.g. BitTorrent)
• Distributed community compute systems (e.g. Splunk?
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• Multiplayer video games

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• Global, distributed retailers and supply chain Support   

management (e.g. Amazon)
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What are different types of distributed

deployments?
Distributed deployments can range from tiny, single
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large-scale, global deployments. In addition to their size
and overall complexity, organizations can consider
deployments based on:
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• The size and capacity of their computer network Support   

Products Solutions
• The amount
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• How frequently they run processes and whether
they'll be scheduled or ad hoc

• The number of users accessing the system

• Capacity of their data center
• The necessary data fidelity and availability
requirements

Based on these considerations, distributed

deployments are categorized as departmental, small
enterprise, medium enterprise or large enterprise.

While there are no official taxonomies delineating what

separates a medium enterprise from a large enterprise,
these categories represent a starting point for planning
the needed resources to implement a distributed
computing system. Distributed systems can also evolve
over time, transitioning from departmental to small
enterprise as the enterprise grows and expands.

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Why do we need distributed systems now?

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Modern computing wouldn’t be possible without

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distributed systems. They’re essential to the operations
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internet. If distributed systems didn’t exist, neither
would any of these technologies.

But do we still need distributed systems for enterprise-

level jobs that don’t have the complexity of an entire
telecommunications network? In most cases, the
answer is yes. Distributed systems provide scalability
and improved performance in ways that monolithic
systems can’t, and because they can draw on the
capabilities of other computing devices and processes,
distributed systems can offer features that would be
difficult or impossible to develop on a single system.

This includes things like performing an off-site server

and application backup — if the master catalog doesn’t
see the segment bits it needs for a restore, it can ask
the other off-site node or nodes to send the segments.
Virtually everything you do now with a computing
device takes advantage of the power of distributed
systems, whether that’s sending an email, playing a
game or reading this article on the web. Ready to learn more about
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Distributed Support   
Systems
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The Bottom Line: Distributed Support   

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systems
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are driving the future
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of computing

Distributed systems are well-positioned to dominate

computing as we know it for the foreseeable future, and
almost any type of application or service will
incorporate some form of distributed computing. The
need for always-on, available-anywhere computing is
driving this trend, particularly as users increasingly turn
to mobile devices for daily tasks. Looking ahead,
distributed systems are certain to cement their
importance in global computing as enterprise
developers increasingly rely on distributed tools to
streamline development, deploy systems and
infrastructure, facilitate operations and manage
applications.

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 A Primer on Risk Management

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