Analysis of multiple-bus synchronous and asynchronous communication systems

We consider a multi-user distributed system in which nodes are connected to multiple-buses using partially duplicated bus interfaces. We study the effects of destination conflicts and bus synchronization on the system performance and show how, for a given system bus duplication can be chosen to provide guaranteed delays while increasing the interconnection system reliability. Alternative system configurations are analyzed and compared using exact and approximate Markovian models. The presented results can be used for design and optimization of high-availability distributed systems, such as loosely coupled cluster systems or backend storage networks.