„POLITEHNICA” UNIVERSITY OF TIMIŞOARA
SYLLABUS
for the discipline:
“DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS”
FACULTY: AUTOMATION AND COMPUTERS
DOMAIN / SPECIALIZATION: SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
Year of studies: I or II (MASTER)
Semester: 1
Course instructor: professor Ioan Jurca, PhD
Applications instructor: professor Ioan Jurca, PhD
Number of hours/week/Evaluation/Credits
Course
Seminar
Laboratory
2
0
2
Project
0
Evaluation
Exam
Credits
9
A. COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course presents the main theoretical principles underlying the distributed systems, as well as different
paradigms used in organizing actual distributed systems. By the end of the course students should be able
to analyze and understand various examples of distributed systems, and to find an appropriate paradigm
for the architecture of a complex distributed application.
B. COURSE SUBJECTS
Introduction: Definition of a distributed system; Harware and software coincepts; Types of distributed
systems.Architectures:Architectural styles; Architecture vs. middleware; Self-management in distributed
systems.Processes: Threads in distributed systems;Virtualization; Orgnization of clients and servers; Code
migration. Communication: Layered protocols;Types of communication. Naming:Names, identifiers and
addresses;Name resolution; Name space implementation. Synchronization: Clock synchronization; Logical
clocks;Mutual exclusion; Election algorithms. Consistency and Replication: Data-centric consistency;
Client-centric consistency; Replica Management; Consistency protocols. Fault Tolerance: Process
resilience; Reliable client-server communication; Reliable group communication; Distributed commit;
Recovery. Security: Secure channels; Access control; Security management. Paradigms: Distributed object
systems; Distributed file systems; Distributed Web-based systems; Distributed coordination-based systems.
C. APPLICATIONS SUBJECTS
Students select papers from a reading list updated yearly by the instructor, study the papers, research on
Internet other papers related to the same subject and prepare and present in front of the class the result of
their research. Students must also contribute to the discussions for each presentation.
D. REFERENCES
1. A. S. Tanenbaum, M. Van Steen: Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms, 2nd edition; Prentice
Hall, 2007
2. G. Coulouris, J. Dollimore, T. Kimberg: Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design, 4th edition; Addison
Wesley, 2005
E. EVALUATION PROCEDURE
Written exam, with theoretical and practical (exercises) subjects. The exam weights 2/3 in the final grade,
and the practical activity (during lab hours) weights 1/3.
F. INTERNATIONAL COMPATIBILITY Se pastreaza indicatiile din modelul in lb. romana
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands), MIT (USA), CMU(USA), Imperial College (UK)
Date: March 28, 2008
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
Prof. Dr. ing. Vladimir CREŢU
COURSE INSTRUCTOR,
Prof. Dr. ing. Ioan Jurca