US 5,471,615 AGranted

Distributed data processing system having front-end and back-end computers with different operating systems

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsKeiji Amatsu, Zenhachiroh Butoh, Hiroshi Hirai, Minoru Massaki, Hirofumi Morita, Takeo Nakajima, Nobuo Nomura, Mikio Sakaki, Stephen J. Schmandt, Katsuhiro Tanaka

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Abstract

A distributed data processing system is provided in which two computers, each running under a different operating system, are coupled so that jobs initiated by a first one of the computers can be executed on a second computer by using the resources of the second computer. This enables the user of the first computer to use the second computer under the environment of the first computer. The first computer acts as the interface between the user and the data processing system. Service programs running on the system can handle or provide for input/output operations during the execution of jobs on the second computer so that the jobs seem to the user of the first computer to be executed on the first computer. The system has means for creating a dummy file in the file system of one operating system which is used as a place holder for a corresponding file in a storage device attached to the other operating system, and accessed by programs controlled by that other operating system.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A distributed data processing system for processing front-end jobs and back-end jobs submitted by a user comprising:

a front-end computer means, having a front-end file system and a front-end job control system, for initiating and executing said front-end jobs, and for initiating and controlling said back-end jobs using said front-end file system and said front-end job control system, said front-end computer means having a first operating system and a front-end storage;
a back-end computer means for executing said back-end jobs using back-end programs and back-end data files, said back-end computer means having processing resources and a second operating system different from said first operating system;
a non-volatile storage means, connected to said front-end storage and controlled by said front-end computer means, for storing said back-end programs and said back-end data files using said front-end file system;
a communication link connected between said front-end storage and controlled by said front-end computer means, for storing said back-end programs and said back-end data files using said front-end file system;
a communication link connected between said front-end computer means and said back-end computer means;
and
system control means, located in said front-end computer means, for creating a back-end address space in said back-end computer means in which said back-end jobs are executed on said back-end computer means by using said processing resources of said back-end computer means.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.