Design of A Pedagogical Framework for Configuration, Execution and Analysis of Distributed Programs

In distributed system it may pose some problems to visualize the exact nature of functioning and the sequence of events in various nodes of the said system and such insights are essential to comprehend and analyze the behavior of different algorithms executing in different nodes of the system mentioned. This paper describes a framework that has been implemented to help visualize and analyze the working behavior of various algorithms on distributed system. Using this platform it is possible for students and researchers to gain insight into the working of various nodes of a distributed system, check their interactions at run time and thus to test different algorithms in a simulated as well as actual environment. The framework lets the student to check the behavior of certain standard built-in distributed algorithms, viz., Leader Election using Bully and Ring Algorithms, Ricart-Agrawala's Mutual Exclusion Algorithm and Chandy-Mishra-Hash deadlock detection algorithm. The users can also write their own algorithms and use a program generator module to generate programs for different nodes using this framework. Subsequent to the execution, a graphical analyzer module aids the user by showing the execution behavior of the algorithm using a space-time graphical diagram that makes use of Lamport's Time Stamping algorithm. The framework provides built-in system-level supports to facilitate exclusive access to shared resources and detects distributed deadlock also.