252-0213-00L  Distributed Systems

SemesterAutumn Semester 2014
LecturersF. Mattern, R. Wattenhofer
Periodicityyearly recurring course
Language of instructionGerman


AbstractDistributed control algorithms (mutual exclusion, logical clocks), communication models (RPC, synchronous/asynchronous communication, broadcast, events, tupel spaces), middleware, service- and resource-oriented architectures (SOAP, REST), security, fault-tolerance (failure models, consensus), replication (primary copy, 2PC, 3PC, Paxos, quorum systems), shared memory (spin locks, concurrency).
ObjectiveBecome acquainted with pertinent technologies and architectures of distributed systems.
ContentWe present the characteristics and concepts of distributed systems, and discuss distributed control algorithms (flooding, mutual exclusion, logical clocks), communications models (remote procedure call, client-server models, synchronous and asynchronous communication), abstract communication principles (broadcast, events, tupel spaces), name services, communication middleware for open systems (e.g., REST, SOAP), infrastructure for ad hoc networking (JINI), cloud computing, and mechanisms for security and safety. Having a distributed system may permit getting away with failures and malfunctions of parts of the system. We discuss fault-tolerance issues (models, consensus, agreement) as well as replication issues (primary copy, 2PC, 3PC, Paxos, quorum systems, distributed storage) and problems with asynchronous multiprocessing (shared memory, spin locks, concurrency). To get familiar with message passing communication, some of the exercises will be devoted to a practical lab where participants will develop software for a mobile platform (smartphones).