Using the ISIS resource manager for distributed, fault-tolerant computing

Under current versions of the UNIX operating system, it is difficult to take advantage of the massive computing power of idle or lightly loaded workstations on a network. The authors introduce the ISIS resource manager, a distributed fault-tolerant application capable of recapturing this processing power, as well as providing a transparent interface to network computing resources. They discuss the growing importance of high-speed workstation networks and the need for network management utilities and consider how advances in software technology have made it possible to easily construct a distributed fault-tolerant application to meet this need. The architecture of the resource manager is described as an example of this class of application.