Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics & Education

COIT13229 Applied Distributed Systems

What is this course about?

This course is designed to analyse and apply the knowledge common in the distributed systems domain. Technical issues such as communication, process management and control, naming issues in distributed systems, fault tolerance and security, synchronisation, consistency and replication, and distributed object and file systems are covered. Students will carry out processes that use these specialised skills in the application of these concepts to applied practical problems in the distributed systems problem domain. On successful completion of this course, the student should be able to: 1. understand the principles of distributed systems 2. gain an in depth appreciate for the issues and algorithms found in the distributed systems problem domain 3. demonstrate the ability to solve problems in the distributed systems domain by solving problems by applying the abstract concepts taught in the course to real problems 4. critically evaluate the methodology taught in the course 2011 Term Two For those of you taking the course on campus, the schedule will be published at http://timetabling.cqu.edu.au Brisbane, Bundaberg, Flexible Learning, Gold Coast, Mackay, Melbourne, Rockhampton, Sydney Approved assessment for this course is: Examination 70% Other 30% Assessment 1 15% Assignment 1 Assessment 2 15% Assignment 2

What are the expected outcomes of the course?

When is it offered?

Where is it offered?

How is it assessed?

ALL ALL

What textbooks do I need to obtain?

Prescribed q Coulouris, Dollimore, & Kindberg 2005, Distributed Systems Concepts and Design, 4th edn, Addison Wesley. Coordinator: Email: Phone: Daniel Pun d.pun@cqu.edu.au +61 7 4923 2377

Who do I contact?

Additional contact details may be found at: http://lecturer.cqu.edu.au/lecturer.jsp?term=2112&course=COIT13229

Copyright CQUniversity

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 1

Information for Students for this Offering Study Schedule

Week Begin Date Module/Topic Chapter Events and submissions

Week 1 Week 2

04 Jul 11 11 Jul 11

An Introduction to Distributed Systems Interprocess Communication

Chapters 1 & 2 Sections 4.1 to 4.4 of Chapter 4 Sections 5.1, 5.2, & 5.5 of Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Week 3

18 Jul 11

Distributed Objects & Remote Invocation

Week 4

25 Jul 11

Process and Thread Management - Operating Systems Support Security in Distributed Systems Distributed File Systems

Week 5 Week 6

01 Aug 11 15 Aug 11

Chapter 7 Sections 8.1 to 8.3, & 8.6 of Chapter 8 Assignment 1 due on Friday Assessment item 1 All Students Assignment 1 Due: 19 Aug 11

Week 7 Week 8

22 Aug 11 29 Aug 11

Name Services Coordination and Agreement

Chapter 9 Sections 12.1 to 12.3 of Chapter 12 Sections 13.1 to 13.4 of Chapter 13 Sections 14.1 to Assignment 2 due on 14.5 of Chapter Friday 14 Assessment item 2 All Students Assignment 2 Due: 16 Sep 11

Week 9

05 Sep 11

Transactions and Concurrency Control

Week 10

12 Sep 11

Distributed Transactions

Week 11

19 Sep 11

Replication and Fault Tolerance

Section 4.5 of Chapter 4, Section 12.4 of Chapter 12, & Sections 15.1 to 15.3 of Chapter 15

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 2

Week 12

26 Sep 11

Web Services

Chapter 19

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 3

Assessment Submission
Hard Copy (when required) Off-campus students Submit hard copy, signed assignments to the Student Contact Centre, Building 5, CQUniversity, Rockhampton QLD 4702. q Access CQUcentral to print a personalised Assessment Cover Sheet for each assignment submission. Instructions for generating your coversheet are at: http://dtls.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/getFile.do?id=23407 On-campus students Submit hard-copy, signed assignments to Assignment Boxes located on your particular Campus - if none are available then submit to the Administration Office.
q

Central Queensland Campus Students should access CQUcentral to print a personalised Assessment Cover Sheet for each assignment submission. Instructions for generating your coversheet are via the link above. q Australian International Campus Students should access the personalised coversheet available at your Campus. Electronic Delivery (when required) All assignments submitted electronically must be through the Student Portal http://my.cqu.edu.au As submission methods may vary from the above please check details on your course website or with your course coordinator if in doubt. POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR ASSESSMENT Students must familiarise themselves with the following policies and procedures:
q

Assessment and examination policy and procedures Assessment of Coursework Policy Assessment of Coursework Principles Assessment of Coursework Procedures http://policy.cqu.edu.au Assignment preparation and presentation Guide for Students Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics & Education 2011 Guide for Students http://content.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/getFile.do?id=40465 Assignment Presentation - http://fbi.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/getFile.do?id=17724 Referencing style The Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics & Education generally uses the Harvard (Author/date) style of referencing except for education, history and law courses. More information on the styles used by various schools can be found at http://facultysite.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=3955 For LAWS courses http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/cite/law/index.html Applying for extensions - http://content.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?site=534 Assignment grading - Grades and Results Policy http://policy.cqu.edu.au What is plagiarism? - http://facultysite.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=3952 General student information (CQUcentral & Moodle) - http://content.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=11721

Faculty Guide

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 4

Guide for Students http://content.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=9177 OTHER IMPORTANT DATES Examinations: Standard Examinations: 6 - 14 October, 2011 Deferred/Supplementary Examinations: 5 - 9 December, 2011 Note: A recess is held during term. Please consult the CQU handbook for specific dates and other information at: http://handbook.cqu.edu.au Contacting Teaching Staff During the course, students should initially contact their local teaching staff to answer any queries related to the course that they may have. Contact details for local teaching staff can be found on the course website. If local teaching staff cannot fully answer the query or it is of a personal nature, students can contact the Course Coordinator. Student Contact A directory of assistance containing information for both on-campus and off-campus students will be provided on the web, before term starts, at: http://content.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?site=534 The university allocates every student an individual email address, the format of which is firstname.lastname@cqumail.com (e.g. john.citizen@cqumail.com). This is the official email address that the university will use for all email correspondence. Student emails can be accessed through http://my.cqu.edu.au . Students are expected to check their official email address on a frequent and consistent basis (at least once weekly). Students are encouraged to review the new Student Email Principles university policy relating to email communication at http://policy.cqu.edu.au which has been introduced to ensure all course and program updates are received.

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 5

Course Information
It is recommended that students use the course mailing list. ALL enrolled students will be automatically subscribed to the course list using their official university email address (i.e. firstname.lastname@cqumail.com). List membership subscriptions are refreshed daily. It is not recommended that students subscribe to the course mailing list using an alternative email address. If so, these will only be effective until the next daily refresh process. This reflects the new CQU Student Email Policy. All enrolled students must have access to the Internet as use of the course website is mandatory. All learning materials such as lecture notes, tutorial and laboratory exercises are on the course website and can be downloaded for your study. The course website is on Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) which can be accessed through the MyCQU Student Portal: http://mycqu.cqu.edu.au/. If you have difficulty logging in, please contact Service Desk on (07) 4930-9233. If you have any problems related to this course please contact your campus Lecturer or Tutor for on-campus students, or the Course Coordinator via e-mail for off-campus students as soon as possible so your study progress is not affected. During the course students should initially contact their local teaching staff to answer any queries related to the course that they may have. Contact details for local teaching staff can be found on the course website. If local teaching staff cannot fully answer the query or it is of a personal nature, students can contact the Course Coordinator. Electronic assignment submission are required via the course website. You must have access to the following software for this course. Java SE Development Kit 6 or later (free download from http://java.sun.com/) The recommended references are as follows: Tanenbaum, AS & Van Steen, M 2006, Distributed systems: principles and paradigms, 2nd edn, Pearson Education International, Englewood Cliffs. The Java Tutorials is available at http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/index.html Students are expected to follow a self-directed study schedule which meets the required deadlines.

Assessment
Continuous assessment / examination
To pass this course, you MUST: score at least 50% or more Overall

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 6

Assessment details for ALL students

Assessment item 1Assignment 1
Due date: Weighting: 4:00 pm (AEST UTC+10), Friday of Week 6 15%
ASSESSMENT

1
Objectives
This assessment item relates to the numbers 1 and 2 of the course learning outcomes stated on page 1. Understand the principles of distributed systems Gain an in depth appreciate for the issues and algorithms found in the distributed systems problem domain

Details
This assignment assesses topics from Weeks 1 to 5 such as: The principles of distributed systems, system models Interprocess communication, client-server communication Distributed objects and remote invocation Process and thread management operating systems support Security in distributed systems

The assignment contains two parts. Part A contains short/long answer questions worth 5% of the overall assessment for the course. Part B may contain discussion questions, case studies, or programming questions worth 10% of the overall assessment for the course. This assessment item is criterion-referenced, details are provided with the assessment item questions. More details of the assignment and marking criteria are made available on the course website. This assignment must be submitted electronically by using an online submission link on the course website through the MyCQU Student Portal. Instructions to show you how to submit online assignments are available from the course website.

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 7

Assessment item 2Assignment 2

Due date: Weighting: 4:00 pm (AEST UTC+10), Friday of Week 10 15%
ASSESSMENT

2
Objectives
This assessment item relates to the numbers 3 and 4 of the course learning outcomes mentioned on page 1. Demonstrate the ability to solve problems in the distributed systems domain by solving problems by applying the abstract concepts taught in the course to real problems Critically evaluate the methodology taught in the course.

Details
This assignment assesses topics mainly from Weeks 6 to 9 such as: Distributed file systems including file service architecture Name services including the domain name system, directory services Coordination and agreement including distributed mutual exclusion Transactions and concurrency control including locks

The assignment contains two parts. Part A contains short/long answer questions worth 5% of the overall assessment for the course. Part B may contain discussion questions, case studies, or programming questions worth 10% of the overall assessment for the course. This assessment item is criterion-referenced, details are provided with the assessment item questions. More details of the assignment and marking criteria are made available on the course website. This assignment must be submitted electronically by using an online submission link on the course website through the MyCQU Student Portal. Instructions to show you how to submit online assignments are available from the course website.

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 8

Examination
Due date: Weighting: Length: During examination period at end of term. 70% Duration 3 hours

Examination conditions

Closed book examination means you are not permitted to take any materials into the examination room with you unless specified. A calculator is permitted non-programmable, no text retrieval, silent only. You may take a non-electronic, concise, direct translation only dictionary into the examination room in accordance with CQUniversity policy. The dictionary must not contain any notes or comments.

There are no previous exam papers available for this course. An examination advice will be provided on the course website towards the end of the term along with a guide to the requirements for the examination. An application for a deferred examination cannot be granted unless you have successfully submitted ALL other assessment items for the course, i.e. assessment items 1 and 2 in the required time period. For further details on examination rules please consult the Faculty Guide for Students and the University Handbook.

View the Universitys policy on examination in the Assessment of Coursework Policy at: http://policy.cqu.edu.au View important examination information at: http://handbook.cqu.edu.au/Handbook/information.jsp?id=126 The examination timetables will be made available later in the term. View the examination timetable at:

http://facultysite.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=3778

NOTE: The examination information provided in this Course Profile also relates to Deferred Examinations. No separate advice will be provided in the case of a deferred examination.

Course Profile for: COIT13229, 2011 Term Two - Page 9