Computer Science 589-6
Distributed Systems

Fall 2006

Monday 3:00-5:30pm, Cramer Hall 227

 

Instructor: Xiao Qin

 Cramer Hall 231A, 505-5902

Office hours: Wednesday 2:00-4:00pm

                                General Information | Announcements | Syllabus | Projects | Lectures 

Announcements

  • Prepare technical reports.  [Posted Monday 11/27/2006]  
  • Progress reports are due on 11/6/2006.  [Posted Monday 10/30/2006]  
  • Proposals are due on 9/18/2006.  [Posted Tuesday 8/30/2006]
  • The date of research meetings is changed to 9/11/2006.  [Posted Tuesday 8/30/2006]
  • Schedule of research meetings is available. [Posted Tuesday 8/29/2006]
  • The webpage of CS 589-6 is launched. [Posted Thursday 4/6/2006]

Course Information

A distributed system is one in which components located at networked computers communicate and coordinate their actions only by passing messages. A major motivation for developing distributed systems is to share resources, which may be managed by servers and accessed by clients. The design and implementations of distributed systems are challenging, because (1) components in a distributed system are in most cases heterogeneous, (2) components may be dynamically added or replaced, and (3) the systems must work well when the number of users increases. 

In this course, we will address the issues of design of distributed systems. In particular, we will investigate successful approaches in the form of abstract models, algorithms, and cases studies of real-world systems. We presume that students who will take this class have a basic knowledge of operating systems, computer architecture, and object oriented programming. The course will be research intensive, aiming at deriving practical and achievable ground rules for distributed systems design. Each student is expected to do a project including a written report and an in-class presentation on a topic to be arranged with the instructor. You will be expected to collaborate with other students toward the completion of the research project related to distributed systems.  

Students who have completed this course should be capable of doing the following:

  • understand the characterization of distributed systems
  • understand the well-established topics of data replication, distributed file systems, and the like
  • familiarize yourselves with new topics, including web services, the Grid, peer-to-peer and ubiquitous systems  
  • design a scalable and heterogeneous distributed systems
  • Improve technical writing and oral presentation skills.

Topics Covered  (These topics may change)

  • Characterization of distributed systems
  • Distributed system models
  • Distributed algorithms
  • Distributed objects and RMI
  • Web services
  • Transactions and concurrency control
  • Distributed transactions
  • Replication
  • Distributed file systems
  • Distributed shared memory
  • Peer-to-Peer systems
  • Mobile and ubiquitous computing 

Prerequisite: CS 325 Principles of Operating Systems

Office Hours: Dr. Qin will have office hours on Tuesday at 2:00-4:00p in his office (Speare 146). 

                        To get the most out of office hours, it is recommended to send an email in advance.

Textbooks:  

  • G. Coulouris, J. Dollimore and T. Kindberg, "Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design" fourth edition, by Addison Wesley, 2005, ISBN: 0-321-26354-5.

    • Resources

    Study Hints