Distributed Systems (W4995-2) -- Fall 2012

Class Schedule

Here is a tentative schedule for lectures and lab/homework deadlines. All information is subject to change, so please check this page frequently.

Date
Topics
Assignments
Tue 09/04 Lec 1: Introduction and lab overview
Tue 09/06 Lec 2: Case studies: the Web and cloud computing (handout) Read Tanenbaum Ch. 2.1, 2.2
Tue 09/11 Lec 3: Processes, threads, local coordination
Thu 09/13 Lec 4: Distributed communication: sockets and remote procedure calls Read Tanenbaum Ch. 4.1, 4.2
Lab 0 due: 09/14 at 23:59pm EST
Tue 09/18 Lec 5: RPC Case Studies: XML/RPC, protocol buffers, Thrift (handout)
Thu 09/20 Lec 6: Local synchronization: semaphores, condition variables
Tue 09/25 Lec 7: Distributed synchronization: clock synchronization, logical clocks Read Tanenbaum Ch. 6.1, 6.2
Thu 09/27 Lec 8: Distributed mutual exclusion Read Tanenbaum Ch. 6.3
Lab 1 due: 09/28 at 23:59pm EST
Tue 10/02 Lec 9: Distributed file systems (1/2): NFS, AFS Read Tanenbaum Ch. 11.1
Thu 10/04 Lec 10: Distributed file systems (2/2): GFS Read GFS paper from Google;
Tue 10/09 TBA (instructor is away)
Thu 10/11 TBA (instructor is away) Lab 2 due: 10/12 at 23:59pm EST
Tue 10/16 Lec 11: Consistency models: strict, sequential consistency Read Tanenbaum 7.1, 7.2
Thu 10/18 Lec 12: Consistency models: causal, eventual consistency Read Tanenbaum Ch. 7.3
Tue 10/23 Lec 13: Multi-object Consistency: Transactions Read Tanenbaum Ch. 7.5
Thu 10/25 Lec 14: Fault tolerance: detecting and correcting local faults Lab 3 due: 10/26 at 23:59pm EST
Tue 10/30 No class (Sandy hit)
Thu 11/01 Lec 15: Logging and Crash Recovery Read Tanenbaum 8.1
Tue 11/06 No class (Election Day) Lab 4 due: 11/06 at 23:59pm EST
Thu 11/08 Lec 16: Agreement and commitment (2PC, 3PC) Homework due: 11/12 at 10:00am EST at CSB461
Tue 11/13 Lec 17: Agreement and commitment (3PC, Paxos)
Thu 11/15 Lec 18: Paxos (cont'ed)
Tue 11/20 Lec 19: Back to the real world: Chubby Read Google's Chubby paper
Thu 11/22 No class (Happy Thanksgiving!) Lab 5 due: 11/26 at 10:00am EST
Tue 11/27 Lec 20: Bigtable Read Google's Bigtable paper
Thu 11/29 Lec 21: Bigtable (cont'ed) Lab 6 due: 12/03 at 23:59pm EST
Tue 12/04 Lec 22: Security teaser (not for exam)
Thu 12/06 Course Review (TA)
Thu 12/20 Final exam, 4:10-6:10pm, Mudd 644