Definition
State ( Distributed System)
The state of a distributed system is its current configuration of data, execution positions and pending communications. Together with the system’s execution rules and subsequent events, it determines the possible next behaviour.
For
processes, a global state can be represented as where
is process ‘s local state and records messages in transit on the communication channels. Global state includes both the local states and messages sent but not yet received; it need not be known to any individual process.