Difference between revisions of "BSc: Distributed And Network Programming"

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= Distributed and Network Programming =
  
= Distributed and Network Programming =
  +
* '''Course name''': Distributed and Network Programming
  +
* '''Code discipline''': XYZ
  +
* '''Subject area''': xxx
   
  +
== Short Description ==
−
* <span>'''Course name:'''</span> Distributed and Network Programming
  
  +
This course covers the following concepts: Network programming concepts: Layered architecture, TCP and UDP sockets, multithreaded servers; Distributed systems concepts: system architecture, inter-process communication, remote procedure calls, peer-to-peer systems, coordination, replication, and fault tolerance..
−
* <span>'''Course number:'''</span> XYZ
  
−
* <span>'''Knowledge area:'''</span> xxx
  
   
−
== Course characteristics ==
 +
== Prerequisites ==
   
−
=== Key concepts of the class ===
 +
=== Prerequisite subjects ===
  +
* '''Networks''': 1) Understanding Application, Transport, and Network layers, 2) Basic socket programming experience
  +
* '''Operating systems'''
   
  +
=== Prerequisite topics ===
−
* Network programming concepts: Layered architecture, TCP and UDP sockets, multithreaded servers
  
−
* Distributed systems concepts: system architecture, inter-process communication, remote procedure calls, peer-to-peer systems, coordination, replication, and fault tolerance.
  
   
−
=== What is the purpose of this course? ===
  
   
  +
== Course Topics ==
−
Distributed and networked systems have become an integral part of our life, we use various applications such as chatting, online transactions, or cloud storage apps. All these popular applications are supported by an infrastructure (of servers) that is organized based on some concepts of distributed systems. The purpose of this course is to provide the students with the necessary concepts, models, and real-world problem-solving techniques of network programming and distributed systems.
  
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+ Course Sections and Topics
  +
|-
  +
! Section !! Topics within the section
  +
|-
  +
| Introduction to subject, computer networks basics, transport layer protocols, and socket programming ||
  +
# General introduction to the course
  +
# Computer networks basic
  +
# Socket programming
  +
# UDP socket programming
  +
# TCP socket programming
  +
|-
  +
| Multithreaded socket programming, RPCs, and distributed system architecture ||
  +
# Multithreading and multithreaded socket programming
  +
# Remote procedure calls (RPCs)
  +
# Distributed system architectures
  +
|-
  +
| Coordination, consistency, and replication in distributed systems ||
  +
# Clock synchronization algorithms (NTP, Berkeley)
  +
# Logical clock (Lamport clocks)
  +
# Mutual exclusion algorithms: permission-based, token-based
  +
# Election algorithms: Bully, Ring
  +
# Consistency models
  +
# Replica management
  +
# Consistency protocols
  +
|-
  +
| Fault tolerance and security in distributed systems ||
  +
# Intro to fault tolerance: Failure models, Failure masking by redundancy
  +
# Process resilience: process groups, process replication, consensus in faulty systems, failure detection
  +
# Reliable group communication: atomic multicast,
  +
# Distributed commit
  +
# Recovery: checkpointing
  +
# Intro to security: threats, design issues, cryptography
  +
# Secure channels: authentication, message integrity and confidentiality, secure group communication
  +
# Access control: general issues, firewalls, secure mobile code, denial of service
  +
# Secure naming
  +
# Security management: Key management, secure group management, authorization management
  +
|}
  +
== Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) ==
   
−
=== Course Objectives Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy ===
 +
=== What is the main purpose of this course? ===
  +
Distributed and networked systems have become an integral part of our life, we use various applications such as chatting, online transactions, or cloud storage apps. All these popular applications are supported by an infrastructure (of servers) that is organized based on some concepts of distributed systems. The purpose of this course is to provide the students with the necessary concepts, models, and real-world problem-solving techniques of network programming and distributed systems.
−  
−
==== What should a student remember at the end of the course? ====
  
   
  +
=== ILOs defined at three levels ===
−
By the end of the course, the students should be able to recognize and define
  
   
  +
==== Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain? ====
  +
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
 
* Concepts of network programming
  
* Concepts of network programming
 
* Different distributed system architectures
  
* Different distributed system architectures
Line 28: Line 71:
 
* Approaches to achieve fault tolerance and security in distributed systems
  
* Approaches to achieve fault tolerance and security in distributed systems
   
−
==== What should a student be able to understand at the end of the course? ====
 +
==== Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform? ====
  +
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
−  
−
By the end of the course, the students should be able to describe and explain (with examples)
  
−  
 
* Difference between different transport protocols, when and why one is preferred over another
  
* Difference between different transport protocols, when and why one is preferred over another
 
* Difference between different distributed system architectures (centralized, decentralized, and hybrid)
  
* Difference between different distributed system architectures (centralized, decentralized, and hybrid)
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* How a new leader is elected in peer-to-peer systems (bully, ring)
  
* How a new leader is elected in peer-to-peer systems (bully, ring)
 
* How to achieve a consistent replicas across distributed systems (consistency models and protocols, content replication and placement)
  
* How to achieve a consistent replicas across distributed systems (consistency models and protocols, content replication and placement)
−
* Some methods to achieve the fault tolerance in distributed systems
+
* Some methods to achieve the fault tolerance in distributed systems
−  
−
==== What should a student be able to apply at the end of the course? ====
  
−  
−
By the end of the course, the students should be able to apply
  
   
  +
==== Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios? ====
  +
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
 
* Building a custom application protocols on top of the existing transport protocols
  
* Building a custom application protocols on top of the existing transport protocols
 
* Writing multithreaded server and client apps with sockets
  
* Writing multithreaded server and client apps with sockets
 
* Using RPC for inter-process communication: command execution, file transfer
  
* Using RPC for inter-process communication: command execution, file transfer
 
* Building peer-to-peer systems with distributed protocol such as Chord
  
* Building peer-to-peer systems with distributed protocol such as Chord
−
* Building fault-tolerant systems with failure detection and leader election
 +
* Building fault-tolerant systems with failure detection and leader election
  +
== Grading ==
−  
−
=== Course evaluation ===
  
−  
−
<div id="tab:OSCourseGradingRange">
  
   
  +
=== Course grading range ===
−
{| style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray;"
  
  +
{| class="wikitable"
−
|+ Course grade breakdown
  
  +
|+
−
!align="center"| '''Component'''
  
−
! '''Points'''
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Grade !! Range !! Description of performance
−
| Laboratory assignments
  
−
|align="right"| 55%
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| A. Excellent || 90-100 || -
−
| Final exam
  
−
|align="right"| 35%
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| B. Good || 75-89 || -
−
| Attendance
  
  +
|-
−
|align="right"| 10%
  
  +
| C. Satisfactory || 60-74 || -
  +
|-
  +
| D. Poor || 0-59 || -
 
|}
  
|}
−
'''Important:''' In order to successfully finish the course, the student is required to score at least 50% in final exam.
  
−  
−
=== Grades range ===
  
−  
−
<div id="tab:OSCourseGradingRange">
  
   
  +
=== Course activities and grading breakdown ===
−
{| style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray;"
  
  +
{| class="wikitable"
−
|+ Course grading range
  
  +
|+
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Percentage of the overall course grade
−
| A. Excellent
  
−
|align="right"| 90-100
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Laboratory assignments || 55%
−
| B. Good
  
−
|align="right"| 75-89
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Final exam || 35%
−
| C. Satisfactory
  
−
|align="right"| 60-74
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Attendance || 10%
−
| D. Poor
  
−
|align="right"| 0-59
  
 
|}
  
|}
   
  +
=== Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course ===
−
=== Resources and reference material ===
  
   
−
* '''Textbook:''' Maarten Van Steen, and Andrew S. Tanenbaum. ''Distributed systems'' (3rd Edition) Leiden, The Netherlands: Maarten van Steen, 2017. Available online: https://www.distributed-systems.net/
  
−
* '''Reference:''' George F. Coulouris, Jean Dollimore, and Tim Kindberg. ''Distributed systems: concepts and design'' (5th Edition) Addision Wesley, 2012. Available online: https://www.cdk5.net/wp/
 
−
* '''Reference:''' Sukumar Ghosh. ''Distributed systems: an algorithmic approach'' (2nd Edition) Chapman&Hall /CRC, Author’s own course material, Spring 2015. Available online: http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~ghosh/16615.html
  
   
  +
== Resources, literature and reference materials ==
−
== Course Sections ==
  
   
  +
=== Open access resources ===
−
The course is organized in 8 weeks, with every weeks 4 academics hours of lectures and 4 academic hours of tutorials/labs. The main sections of the course and approximate hour distribution between them is as follows:
  
  +
* Textbook: Maarten Van Steen, and Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Distributed systems (3rd Edition) Leiden, The Netherlands: Maarten van Steen, 2017. Available online: https://www.distributed-systems.net/
  +
* Reference: George F. Coulouris, Jean Dollimore, and Tim Kindberg. Distributed systems: concepts and design (5th Edition) Addision Wesley, 2012. Available online: https://www.cdk5.net/wp/
  +
* Reference: Sukumar Ghosh. Distributed systems: an algorithmic approach (2nd Edition) Chapman&Hall /CRC, Author’s own course material, Spring 2015. Available online: http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~ghosh/16615.html
   
  +
=== Closed access resources ===
−
<div id="tab:OSCourseSections">
  
   
  +
−
{| style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray;"
  
  +
=== Software and tools used within the course ===
−
|+ Course Sections
  
  +
−
!align="center"| '''Section'''
  
  +
= Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities =
−
! '''Section Title'''
  
  +
−
!align="center"| '''Teaching Hours'''
  
  +
== Activities and Teaching Methods ==
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+ Activities within each section
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Learning Activities !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3 !! Section 4
−
|align="center"| 1
  
−
| Introduction to subject, network programming, threading
  
−
|align="center"| 12
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Development of individual parts of software product code || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
|align="center"| 2
  
−
| distributed system architecture, inter-process communication, and remote procedure calls
  
−
|align="center"| 24
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Homework and group projects || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
|align="center"| 3
  
−
| Coordination, consistency, and replication in distributed systems
  
−
|align="center"| 24
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Testing (written or computer based) || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
|align="center"| 4
  
  +
|-
−
| Fault tolerance and security in distributed systems
  
  +
| Oral polls || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
|align="center"| 30
  
−
|}
 +
|-
  +
| Discussions || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
  +
|}
  +
== Formative Assessment and Course Activities ==
   
  +
=== Ongoing performance assessment ===
−
</div>
  
−
=== Section 1 ===
  
   
−
==== Section title: Introduction to subject, network programming, threading ====
 +
==== Section 1 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
−  
  +
|+
−
==== Topics covered in this section ====
 
−  
−
* General introduction to the course
  
−
* Computer networks basic
  
−
* Socket programming
 
−
* UDP socket programming
  
−
* TCP socket programming
  
−
* Multithreaded socket programming
  
−  
−
==== What forms of evaluation were used to test students’ performance in this section? ====
 
−  
−
<div id="tab:OSSectionEval1">
  
−  
−
{| style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray;"
  
−
|''' '''
  
−
! '''Yes/No'''
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−
| Development of individual parts of software product code
  
−
|align="center"| 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Question || What are the distributed systems? || 1
−
| Homework and group projects
  
−
|align="center"| 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Question || Give an example of distributed systems. || 1
−
| Midterm evaluation
  
−
|align="center"| 0
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Question || What are the advantages of layered architecture? || 1
−
| Testing (written or computer based)
  
−
|align="center"| 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Question || What are the roles of transport protocols? || 1
−
| Reports
  
−
|align="center"| 0
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Question || How the TCP and UDP differ from each other? When one is preferred over the other? || 1
−
| Essays
  
−
|align="center"| 0
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Question || What is socket programming? || 1
−
| Oral polls
  
−
|align="center"| 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Question || How socket programming is different for UDP and TCP? || 1
−
| Discussions
  
  +
|-
−
|align="center"| 1
  
  +
| Question || Write a simple UDP/TCP client-server echo program || 0
−
|}
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || Write a simple chatting program using UDP/TCP sockets || 0
−  
  +
|-
−
</div>
  
  +
| Question || Given the simple echo server program, apply socket timeouts and catch timeout exceptions || 0
−
==== Typical questions for ongoing performance evaluation within this section ====
 
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || Write a UDP-based reliable file transfer protocol || 0
−
# Explain the difference between an include file and a library.
  
  +
|-
−
# Is a parameter of a macro a “real” parameter?
  
  +
| Question || Write a program that parallelly executes the CPU-bound tasks using multiple processes || 0
−
# Discuss the importance of the conditional compilation.
  
  +
|}
−
# What happens when a function returning a pointer returns the address of a local variable?
  
  +
==== Section 2 ====
−
# Detail the meaning of the keyword static and external for supporting information hiding.
  
  +
{| class="wikitable"
−
# Describe how the use of virtual functions can make the code more flexible.
  
  +
|+
−  
  +
|-
−
==== Typical questions for seminar classes (labs) within this section ====
 
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−  
  +
|-
−
# Given a source .c file including a .h header file, show the results of preprossing in terms of the generated c file.
  
  +
| Question || How the threads differ from processes? || 1
−
# Write a macro and a function in C for the same purpose and discuss pros and cons of both approaches.
  
  +
|-
−
# Show how you can write a generic swap function as a macro.
  
  +
| Question || What are the I/O and CPU-bound tasks? || 1
−
# Write the code allocating dynamic memory for a 2 dimensional array and initializing it.
  
  +
|-
−
# Provide an example of how with pointers it is possible in the called function to alter values of variable located in the calling function.
  
  +
| Question || For what kind of tasks, using threads is preferred than using processes? || 1
−
# Using function pointers, write a sorting function having the sorting rule as a parameter of such function.
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || What is a remote procedure call? || 1
−
==== Test questions for final assessment in this section ====
 
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || What are some well-known distributed system architectures? || 1
−
# Discuss the difference in the compiled code when using function and when using macros instead.
  
  +
|-
−
# Provide examples of functions that cannot be transformed into macros, also discussing the motivation for such impossibility.
  
  +
| Question || Discuss the structured and unstructured decentralized architectures. || 1
−
# Describe the rules for scope and extent for local variables, static variables (in all cases), and pointers, supplying also code examples of them.
  
  +
|-
−
# Detail the structure of the address space of a process when using a three dimensional array allocated as a local variable of a function and when such array is allocated dynamically, also describe the types of the variables in use and how the compiler checks them.
  
  +
| Question || You have a list of large numbers, and you need to find if they are prime or not. Would you use multithreading, multiprocessing, or sequential programming in order to complete the task asap? Prove it in practice. || 0
−
# Outline the assembly code for a function calling another function passed as a parameter of it.
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || You need to send multiple requests to a server and receive responses. Assume there is a few msecs of delay before you receive the response from the server. Would you use multithreading, multiprocessing, or sequential programming in order to complete the task asap? Prove it in practice. (Order of the requests/responses doesn't matter) || 0
−
== Administrative details ==
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || Discuss two ways of creating the threads using threading module in Python: 1) passing the worker function as a target, 2) subclassing the Thread class || 0
−
* <span>'''Faculty:'''</span> Computer Science and Engineering
  
  +
|-
−
* <span>'''Year of instruction:'''</span> 4th year of BS
  
  +
| Question || Given the function implemented locally, make it available to be called through RPC from remote process? Use xmlRPC. || 0
−
* <span>'''Semester of instruction:'''</span> 2nd semester
  
  +
|}
−
* <span>'''No. of Credits:'''</span> 4 ECTS
  
  +
==== Section 3 ====
−
* <span>'''Total workload on average:'''</span> 144 hours overall
  
  +
{| class="wikitable"
−
* <span>'''Frontal lecture hours:'''</span> 2 per week
  
  +
|+
−
* <span>'''Frontal tutorial hours:'''</span> 2 per week
  
  +
|-
−
* <span>'''Lab hours:'''</span> 2 per week
  
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−
* <span>'''Individual lab hours:'''</span> 0
  
  +
|-
−
* <span>'''Frequency:'''</span> weekly throughout the semester
  
  +
| Question || How NTP protocol works? || 1
−
* <span>'''Grading mode:'''</span> letters: A, B, C, D
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || How Berkeley protocol works? || 1
−
== Prerequisites ==
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || Discuss the mutual exclusion algorithms. || 1
−
* Introduction to Programming I
  
  +
|-
−
* Introduction to Programming II
  
  +
| Question || Discuss the permanent and server-initiated replicas and their difference || 1
−
* Operating Systems
  
  +
|-
−
* Networks
  
  +
| Question || Explain the Primary-backup protocol. || 1
−  
  +
|-
−
== Course outline ==
  
  +
| Question || Given three machines with drifting clocks, adjust their clocks using Berkeley algorithm. || 0
−  
  +
|-
−
This course focuses on the programming aspects of computer networks. Students will understand the current trends in communication protocols, socket programming and interprocess communication. Network programming will be covered for what concerns both wired networks and wireless networks.
  
  +
| Question || Explain how Bully algorithm for election works || 0
−  
  +
|-
−
== Expected learning outcomes ==
  
  +
| Question || Explain how Ring algorithm for election works || 0
−  
  +
|-
−
* Understanding issues in concurrent network applications
  
  +
| Question || Explain the centralized (permission-based) method of mutual exclusion || 0
−
* Understand issues in implementing client/server systems using distributed programming techniques
  
  +
|}
−
* Implementing multithreaded client/server applications
  
  +
==== Section 4 ====
−  
  +
{| class="wikitable"
−
== Expected acquired core competences ==
  
  +
|+
−  
  +
|-
−
* Network programming
  
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−
* Socket programming
  
  +
|-
−
* Client/Server applications
  
  +
| Question || Discuss the failure models || 1
−
* Peer to peer network programming
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || Discuss different failure masking techniques by redundancy || 1
−
== Textbook ==
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Question || What is k-fault tolerant group? || 1
−
*
 
  +
|-
−
*
 
  +
| Question || What is general model of failure detection? || 1
  +
|-
  +
| Question || Explain basic reliable multicasting || 1
  +
|-
  +
| Question || Explain what is authentication || 1
  +
|-
  +
| Question || Explain what are message confidentiality and integrity || 1
  +
|-
  +
| Question || Same as above || 0
  +
|}
  +
=== Final assessment ===
  +
'''Section 1'''
  +
# Describe an advantage of layered architecture?
  +
# Describe the differences between TCP and UDP protocols?
  +
# Provide examples when using UDP can be more reasonable than TCP?
  +
# Describe how UDP and TCP socket programming differ from each other?
  +
'''Section 2'''
  +
# Discuss the differences between the threads and processes.
  +
# What is the Race condition?
  +
# Discuss the ways to protect the shared data from the race condition
  +
# You're given the worker function that just sleeps for a second and quits, implement the same behavior in a subclass of the Thread.
  +
# Discuss the RPC and its advantages over using the low-level socket programming?
  +
# Discuss the decentralized architecture: structured and unstructured p2p systems.
  +
'''Section 3'''
  +
# Discuss NTP and Berkeley protocols for synchronization and explain their key difference
  +
# Discuss permission-based and token-based solution for mutual exclusion.
  +
# Discuss content replication: permanent, server-initiated, and client-initiated replicas.
  +
# Explain the Primary-backup protocol, its advantages and disadvantages.
  +
'''Section 4'''
  +
# Same as above
   
−
== Reference material ==
 +
=== The retake exam ===
  +
'''Section 1'''
   
  +
'''Section 2'''
−
* Lecturing and lab slides and material will be provided
  
−
* Several resources are available online and will be pointed during the course
  
   
  +
'''Section 3'''
−
== Required computer resources ==
  
   
  +
'''Section 4'''
−
Students should have laptops.
  

Latest revision as of 18:27, 22 March 2023

Distributed and Network Programming

  • Course name: Distributed and Network Programming
  • Code discipline: XYZ
  • Subject area: xxx

Short Description

This course covers the following concepts: Network programming concepts: Layered architecture, TCP and UDP sockets, multithreaded servers; Distributed systems concepts: system architecture, inter-process communication, remote procedure calls, peer-to-peer systems, coordination, replication, and fault tolerance..

Prerequisites

Prerequisite subjects

  • Networks: 1) Understanding Application, Transport, and Network layers, 2) Basic socket programming experience
  • Operating systems

Prerequisite topics

Course Topics

Course Sections and Topics
Section Topics within the section
Introduction to subject, computer networks basics, transport layer protocols, and socket programming
  1. General introduction to the course
  2. Computer networks basic
  3. Socket programming
  4. UDP socket programming
  5. TCP socket programming
Multithreaded socket programming, RPCs, and distributed system architecture
  1. Multithreading and multithreaded socket programming
  2. Remote procedure calls (RPCs)
  3. Distributed system architectures
Coordination, consistency, and replication in distributed systems
  1. Clock synchronization algorithms (NTP, Berkeley)
  2. Logical clock (Lamport clocks)
  3. Mutual exclusion algorithms: permission-based, token-based
  4. Election algorithms: Bully, Ring
  5. Consistency models
  6. Replica management
  7. Consistency protocols
Fault tolerance and security in distributed systems
  1. Intro to fault tolerance: Failure models, Failure masking by redundancy
  2. Process resilience: process groups, process replication, consensus in faulty systems, failure detection
  3. Reliable group communication: atomic multicast,
  4. Distributed commit
  5. Recovery: checkpointing
  6. Intro to security: threats, design issues, cryptography
  7. Secure channels: authentication, message integrity and confidentiality, secure group communication
  8. Access control: general issues, firewalls, secure mobile code, denial of service
  9. Secure naming
  10. Security management: Key management, secure group management, authorization management

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

What is the main purpose of this course?

Distributed and networked systems have become an integral part of our life, we use various applications such as chatting, online transactions, or cloud storage apps. All these popular applications are supported by an infrastructure (of servers) that is organized based on some concepts of distributed systems. The purpose of this course is to provide the students with the necessary concepts, models, and real-world problem-solving techniques of network programming and distributed systems.

ILOs defined at three levels

Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

  • Concepts of network programming
  • Different distributed system architectures
  • Various synchronization and coordination techniques
  • Different consistency models and replication methods
  • Approaches to achieve fault tolerance and security in distributed systems

Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

  • Difference between different transport protocols, when and why one is preferred over another
  • Difference between different distributed system architectures (centralized, decentralized, and hybrid)
  • How a mutual exclusion is achieved between concurrent servers (centralized, distributed, token-ring, and decentralized)
  • How a new leader is elected in peer-to-peer systems (bully, ring)
  • How to achieve a consistent replicas across distributed systems (consistency models and protocols, content replication and placement)
  • Some methods to achieve the fault tolerance in distributed systems

Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

  • Building a custom application protocols on top of the existing transport protocols
  • Writing multithreaded server and client apps with sockets
  • Using RPC for inter-process communication: command execution, file transfer
  • Building peer-to-peer systems with distributed protocol such as Chord
  • Building fault-tolerant systems with failure detection and leader election

Grading

Course grading range

Grade Range Description of performance
A. Excellent 90-100 -
B. Good 75-89 -
C. Satisfactory 60-74 -
D. Poor 0-59 -

Course activities and grading breakdown

Activity Type Percentage of the overall course grade
Laboratory assignments 55%
Final exam 35%
Attendance 10%

Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course

Resources, literature and reference materials

Open access resources

  • Textbook: Maarten Van Steen, and Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Distributed systems (3rd Edition) Leiden, The Netherlands: Maarten van Steen, 2017. Available online: https://www.distributed-systems.net/
  • Reference: George F. Coulouris, Jean Dollimore, and Tim Kindberg. Distributed systems: concepts and design (5th Edition) Addision Wesley, 2012. Available online: https://www.cdk5.net/wp/
  • Reference: Sukumar Ghosh. Distributed systems: an algorithmic approach (2nd Edition) Chapman&Hall /CRC, Author’s own course material, Spring 2015. Available online: http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~ghosh/16615.html

Closed access resources

Software and tools used within the course

Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities

Activities and Teaching Methods

Activities within each section
Learning Activities Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4
Development of individual parts of software product code 1 1 1 1
Homework and group projects 1 1 1 1
Testing (written or computer based) 1 1 1 1
Oral polls 1 1 1 1
Discussions 1 1 1 1

Formative Assessment and Course Activities

Ongoing performance assessment

Section 1

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Question What are the distributed systems? 1
Question Give an example of distributed systems. 1
Question What are the advantages of layered architecture? 1
Question What are the roles of transport protocols? 1
Question How the TCP and UDP differ from each other? When one is preferred over the other? 1
Question What is socket programming? 1
Question How socket programming is different for UDP and TCP? 1
Question Write a simple UDP/TCP client-server echo program 0
Question Write a simple chatting program using UDP/TCP sockets 0
Question Given the simple echo server program, apply socket timeouts and catch timeout exceptions 0
Question Write a UDP-based reliable file transfer protocol 0
Question Write a program that parallelly executes the CPU-bound tasks using multiple processes 0

Section 2

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Question How the threads differ from processes? 1
Question What are the I/O and CPU-bound tasks? 1
Question For what kind of tasks, using threads is preferred than using processes? 1
Question What is a remote procedure call? 1
Question What are some well-known distributed system architectures? 1
Question Discuss the structured and unstructured decentralized architectures. 1
Question You have a list of large numbers, and you need to find if they are prime or not. Would you use multithreading, multiprocessing, or sequential programming in order to complete the task asap? Prove it in practice. 0
Question You need to send multiple requests to a server and receive responses. Assume there is a few msecs of delay before you receive the response from the server. Would you use multithreading, multiprocessing, or sequential programming in order to complete the task asap? Prove it in practice. (Order of the requests/responses doesn't matter) 0
Question Discuss two ways of creating the threads using threading module in Python: 1) passing the worker function as a target, 2) subclassing the Thread class 0
Question Given the function implemented locally, make it available to be called through RPC from remote process? Use xmlRPC. 0

Section 3

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Question How NTP protocol works? 1
Question How Berkeley protocol works? 1
Question Discuss the mutual exclusion algorithms. 1
Question Discuss the permanent and server-initiated replicas and their difference 1
Question Explain the Primary-backup protocol. 1
Question Given three machines with drifting clocks, adjust their clocks using Berkeley algorithm. 0
Question Explain how Bully algorithm for election works 0
Question Explain how Ring algorithm for election works 0
Question Explain the centralized (permission-based) method of mutual exclusion 0

Section 4

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Question Discuss the failure models 1
Question Discuss different failure masking techniques by redundancy 1
Question What is k-fault tolerant group? 1
Question What is general model of failure detection? 1
Question Explain basic reliable multicasting 1
Question Explain what is authentication 1
Question Explain what are message confidentiality and integrity 1
Question Same as above 0

Final assessment

Section 1

  1. Describe an advantage of layered architecture?
  2. Describe the differences between TCP and UDP protocols?
  3. Provide examples when using UDP can be more reasonable than TCP?
  4. Describe how UDP and TCP socket programming differ from each other?

Section 2

  1. Discuss the differences between the threads and processes.
  2. What is the Race condition?
  3. Discuss the ways to protect the shared data from the race condition
  4. You're given the worker function that just sleeps for a second and quits, implement the same behavior in a subclass of the Thread.
  5. Discuss the RPC and its advantages over using the low-level socket programming?
  6. Discuss the decentralized architecture: structured and unstructured p2p systems.

Section 3

  1. Discuss NTP and Berkeley protocols for synchronization and explain their key difference
  2. Discuss permission-based and token-based solution for mutual exclusion.
  3. Discuss content replication: permanent, server-initiated, and client-initiated replicas.
  4. Explain the Primary-backup protocol, its advantages and disadvantages.

Section 4

  1. Same as above

The retake exam

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

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