Mos: A multicomputer distributed operating system

This paper describes the goals and the internal structure of MOS, a Multicomputer distributed Operating System. MOS is a general‐purpose time‐sharing operating system which makes a cluster of loosely connected independent homogeneous computers behave as a single‐machine UNIX system. The main goals of the system include network transparency, decentralized control, site autonomy and dynamic process migration. The main objective in the design of the system was to reduce the complexity of the system, while maintaining good performance. The internal structure of the system can be characterized by modularity, a high degree of information hiding, hierarchical organization and remote procedure calls.