Servers, processes and subprocesses: a critical evaluation

Distributed operating systems are often structured in a server-oriented way, with some system tasks being performed by server processes. An extended analysis of the servers' structure is provided along with its implications for the communication system. Small examples, which start from simple servers and become gradually more complex, illustrate the problems encountered when servers are written using a classical sequential process structure. Processes with several threads of control that execute the same code are used to overcome the problems encountered. The Hermix distributed operating system is used as an example to illustrate the use of such a process structure.<
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