On the Role of Time in Distributed Systems

Paulo Veríssimo

From Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Future Trends of Distributed Computing Systems (FTDCS'97), October 1997, Tunis, Tunisia.

Abstract

The role of time has been neglected for long, in distributed systems. Outside the real-time arena, time has been ignored, mostly on account of the asynchronous nature of the models currently used in distributed systems research. Even in real-time systems, time provision has for long stayed in the realm of centralised, unique system clocks. The situation is changing, though.

In this paper, we do an overview of the role of time in distributed systems. We address the issue of the utility of time, that is, why and where time is used, namely its relationship with order and ordering protocols. We report on recent evolutions that may drastically change the current scenario of the use of time distributed systems.

Also available extended report (gzip postscript).