Distributed Systems Management in Wide-Area Networks

While quite a few distributed operating systems for local-area networks exist, hardly any work has been done to date on distributed operating systems for wide-area networks. In Europe, a number of public networks are now operational, with gateways between some of them. However, the use of these networks is still mostly restricted to "remote login" and, in some cases, simple file transfer operations. To study these problems and to find structural solutions for efficient and simple use of national and international networks the working group "Distributed Systems Management" was founded within COST 11. Recently, this working group has submitted a research proposal to COST 11 to realise an infrastructure for the implementation of distributed services in a wide-area network in a European collaborative effort. The model, underlying the reserach is the service model, used in many local-area network distributed operating systems. The research project is described, and the proposed infrastructure is discussed in some detail.