Process Migration in
Distributed Systems
By ATHARVA RAGHUVANSHI
BATCH-10
Submitted to Mam Ritu Rai
Understanding Distributed Systems
Distributed systems are collections of independent computers, known as nodes, that work together seamlessly as a unified system. These
systems communicate over networks and coordinate their actions to achieve common objectives. Modern computing increasingly relies on
distributed architectures to handle complex workloads and provide reliable services at scale.
Resource Sharing Scalability Fault Tolerance
Nodes share computational power, Systems can expand by adding more System continues operating even when
storage, and network bandwidth nodes without redesigning core individual nodes fail or become
efficiently across the system architecture unavailable
Real-world examples include cloud platforms like AWS and Google Cloud, large-scale databases such as Cassandra and MongoDB, and online
services like Netflix and Spotify that serve millions of users globally. These systems demonstrate the practical power of distributed computing in
delivering reliable, responsive services.
What is Process Migration?
Process migration is the dynamic movement of a running process from one
node to another within a distributed system. This sophisticated operation
involves transferring the complete execution context of a process, including
its memory contents, CPU registers, program counter, open files, and
network connections. When a process migrates, it must resume execution
on the destination node as if it had never left, maintaining full transparency
to the rest of the system.
This capability is fundamental to modern distributed systems, enabling them
to respond dynamically to changing conditions and optimize resource
utilization across the entire infrastructure.
Why Use Process Migration?
Dynamic Load Balancing Fault Tolerance System Maintenance
Distribute computational work evenly Automatically move processes away Enable scheduled node upgrades,
across nodes by shifting processes from from failing, faulty, or degraded nodes to patches, and maintenance without
overloaded systems to underutilized maintain service continuity and prevent interrupting service by gracefully
ones, preventing bottlenecks and data loss during hardware failures. migrating processes to other available
improving overall system performance. nodes.
Data Locality Mobility Support
Place processes physically near Enable mobile and edge computing by
required data sources to minimize migrating processes to stable server
network latency and maximize data infrastructure when devices disconnect
access speeds for compute-intensive or experience connectivity issues.
applications.
Key Concepts in Process Migration
1 Process State 2 Checkpointing
A complete snapshot capturing the entire execution context of The systematic process of saving a process's state to
a process at a given moment, including memory allocations, persistent storage, creating a recovery point that enables the
register values, program counter position, file descriptors, and process to resume execution from that exact moment after
environmental variables. migration or system failure.
3 Migration Overhead 4 Transparency Levels
The total time and computational resources consumed during Varying degrees of abstraction ensuring that migrating
the migration operation, including checkpoint creation, data processes maintain consistent behavior; includes object
transfer across networks, and process resumption on the access transparency and system call transparency for
destination node. seamless operation across nodes.
Types of Process Migration
Preemptive Migration
Non-Preemptive Migration
The process can be interrupted and moved
Process migrates only after completing its
at any time during execution. Maximum
current CPU cycle. Simpler to implement
flexibility but requires careful state
but less flexible timing.
management.
Heterogeneous Migration Live Migration
Migrating processes across different Process continues running with minimal
hardware architectures (ARM to x86) or downtime during transfer. Achieves nearly
operating systems. Complex but powerful transparent migration for production
for hybrid infrastructures. systems.
Steps Involved in Process Migration
Freeze Process
Halt execution on the source node to establish a consistent state for migration
Checkpoint State
Capture complete process state including memory, registers, file descriptors, and execution context
Transfer Data
Transmit checkpoint and all necessary state information to destination node over network
Resume Execution
Initialize process on destination node and restore it to exact state from checkpoint
Handle Communication
Forward pending messages and re-establish inter-process communication links with other system processes
Challenges & Recent Advances
Current Challenges Breakthrough Solutions
Heterogeneous Systems: Migrating HetMigrate (Virginia Tech, 2023):
processes across different instruction Enables secure cross-architecture live
set architectures and operating migration with minimal overhead
systems presents significant through innovative binary translation
complexity in state representation and and state mapping techniques.
execution environment compatibility.
WebAssembly Vessels (UC Santa
Security Concerns: Protecting Cruz, 2024): Creates portable
process state during migration and "vessels" using WebAssembly as an
ensuring unauthorized access intermediate representation, allowing
prevention requires robust encryption seamless migration across diverse
and authentication mechanisms. heterogeneous platforms.
Efficiency: Minimizing migration These advances significantly expand
overhead while maintaining the practical applicability of process
transparency remains a critical migration in real-world distributed
optimization problem. systems.
Real-World Applications
Cloud Infrastructure Edge Computing Hybrid Cloud Services Scientific Computing
Load balancing and automatic Cyber foraging enables mobile Atlas advisor optimizes Batch processing systems enable
fault recovery across cloud devices to offload microservices placement across minimal-downtime process
deployments ensure optimal computationally intensive tasks private and public clouds, migration for long-running
performance and high availability to nearby servers, preserving improving latency and reducing simulations and computational
for millions of concurrent users battery life and enabling operational costs through research workloads
sophisticated applications intelligent migration
The Future of Process Migration
Enabling Resilient Computing
Process migration has emerged as a cornerstone technique in distributed systems architecture, fundamentally enhancing performance, reliability, and
operational flexibility. By dynamically relocating processes in response to system conditions, organizations can achieve unprecedented levels of resource
optimization and fault tolerance.
Ongoing research initiatives from leading institutions continue to tackle the remaining challenges of heterogeneity, security, and efficiency. Advanced
frameworks like HetMigrate and WebAssembly-based solutions demonstrate that cross-architecture migration is increasingly becoming practical reality rather
than theoretical ideal.
With these advances, process migration will continue serving as a key enabler for scalable, resilient computing infrastructures across cloud, edge, and
hybrid environments for years to come.
Thank you for your attention!
Questions?
