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CS4/MSc Distributed Systems

This module runs in the first semester, on Monday and Thursday at 15:00 - 15:50, taught by Richard Mayr. Lectures will take place in AT LT3 (Appleton tower, lecture theatre 3).

Richard Mayr's office hour is Mondays 14:00-15:00 and he can be found in room IF 4.11.

A distributed system is broadly categorised as a collection or network of loosely coupled, autonomous computers that can communicate with each other and execute logically separate computations, though these may be related to concurrent computations on other nodes.

• The nodes are relatively loosely coupled.
• Each node is a self-contained autonomous computer with its own peripherals.
• The system can survive various categories of node and network failures.
• The nodes may execute logically separate computations, though these may be related to concurrent computations on other nodes.
• The system is asynchronous.

Distributed systems have become pervasive---many applications now require the cooperation of two or more computers--yet the design and implementation of such systems remain challenging and complex tasks. Difficulties arise from the concurrency of components, the lack of a global clock and the possibility of independent failure of components. Moreover designs must aim to provide inter-operability, transparency and autonomy.

The emphasis of this module is on gaining understanding of the principles and concepts that are used to design distributed systems and experience of software platforms which underpin their development.

• Documents
  • Course questionnaire

• Slides
  Slides will typically be available from the web page a day or two before the lecture.
  • Part 0: Organization
  • Part 1: Introduction and Overview
  • Part 2: Book chapters 1-4

    Further reading on CFSM:

    • Original paper on unreliable channel systems.
    • A survey on the case of probabilistic message loss.
    • Some recent slides with more references at the end.
  • Part 3: Book chapter 11
  • Part 4: Book chapter 12
  • Part 5: Book chapters 6/8 (partly)
  • Part 6: Book chapter 10
  • Part 7: Book chapter 7

    Further reading on cryptography: A nice comic on AES

• Programs
  • Example programs on ports and sockets
  • Java RMI example from CDK3
  • CORBA example from CDK3
  • Example CORBA programs
  • Example Aglet programs
• Helpful Web pages
  • CORBA for Beginners
  • Java Tutorial on using Java IDL
  • Aglets home page
  • O'Reilly's site devoted to peer-to-peer technology (based on a loose definition of peer-to-peer).
  • The Freenet web site
  • The SETI@Home web site

• Books
  • Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design , G. Coulouris, J. Dollimore and T. Kindberg, Addison-Wesley, 2005 Fourth Edition. (or 5th Edition).
    This is the required course text and you will find that lectures relate quite closely to chapters. Web pages supporting the book, can be found here.
  • Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Maarten Van Steen, Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms, Prentice Hall, September 2001. (web site: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/books/ds1/)
  • Nancy A. Lynch, Distributed Algorithms, Morgan Kaufmann, 1996.
  • Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, 3rd ed., Prentice-Hall, 1996.
  • R. Chow and T. Johnson, Distributed Operating systems and Algorithms, Addison-Wesley, 1997.

• Coursework
  • Regular exercises. Ungraded, but discussed in class. Download it here.
    1. Exercise (until 20. Oct.) Solution
    2. Exercise (until 14. Nov.) Solution
  • Graded Coursework (out of 100): Assigned: 10. Oct., Submission Deadline: 10. Nov., 4 PM at the ITO., Returned: 24. Nov., Download link.

• Projects (for level 11 students only!): Assigned: 17. Oct., Submission Deadline: 24. Nov, 4PM at the ITO., Returned: 8. Dec., Download link. .

  Instructions for submission of program code (for project 1 only): Use the electronic submission system with the `submit' command and course code ds (not ds-5; this has been deleted), i.e., use `submit ds 1 filename' (see link ) to submit your program code electronically. Also submit a paper copy of your code together with your writeup at the ITO.

  Instructions for submission of project 2: Submit a paper copy of your essay at the ITO.

• Grading: The final exam counts for 85%, and the coursework (and project at level 11) count for 15%. These 15% are split as follows for level 10 and level 11 students.
  • For level 10 students: The coursework counts for 15%.
  • For level 11 students: Coursework counts for 7%. Project counts for 8%.

• Exams
  Note that there has been a substantial revision of the module in the academic year 2001/2, and a minor one in 2002/3. Nevertheless you should find some questions on past exam papers useful for revision purposes.
  • Past exams

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This page is maintained by the course lecturer Richard Mayr.