ID2203 Distributed Systems, Advanced Course 7.5 credits

• Educational level

  Second cycle

• Academic level (A-D)

  D

• Subject area

  Information Technology
  

• Grade scale

  A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

• Course hompage

• Course page on KTH Social

Learning outcomes

The course complements Distributed Systems GK (basic course), and prepares the students for M.Sc projects, and Ph.D. studies in the area of distributed systems.
The main objective of this course is to provide the students with a solid foundation for understanding, analyzing and designing distributed algorithms for reliable distributed systems.
More specifically after the course is completed the student will:
- Know how to specify the properties of distributed algorithms, so called liveness and safety properties.
- Explain the different models of distributed systems, including failure and timing models
- Master basic algorithms for failure detection, leader elections, broadcast and multicast, basic shared memory in distributed systems, agreement protocols, and group communication
- Practice in design and implementation of selected distributed algorithms in middleware designed for group communication.

Course main content

Topics:
Models of distributed algorithms
Event-based programming
Failure detectors and leader elections
Reliable broadcast and epdimic algorithms
Shared memory models
Consensus and agreement
Group communication and view synchrony
Stabilization algorithms
Impossibility proofs

Eligibility

120 university credits (hp) in engineering or natural sciences and documented proficiency in English corresponding to English A.

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge in distributed systems and basic logic (rudimentary proof techniques)

Literature

Main
Textbook: Reliable Distributed Programming, Rachid Guerraoui and Luis Rodrigues
2006, ISBN: 3-540-28845-7  

Additional
Textbook: Gerard Tel, Introduction to Distributed Algorithms, Second Edition,
Cambridge University Press, ISBN +-521-79483-8.  

Textbook: Distributed Computing: Fundamentals, Simulations, and Advanced Topics, Wiley Series on Parallel and Distributed Computing

Examination

• LAB1 - Laboratory Work, 3.0 credits, grade scale: P, F
• TEN1 - Examination, 4.5 credits, grade scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Requirements for final grade

Lab. assignement (LAB1; 3 hp)
Exam (TEN1; 4,5 hp)

Midterm exam (10 point) has a weight of 10% given as bonus point.Final exam (TEN1; 4.5 hp) (70 points) has a weight of 70% of the final result.The practical part of the course (LAB1; 3 hp) consists of 4 parts, three parts are compulsory and gives 30 points (of weight 30%), and the fourth gives 10 extra bonus points.

For the final grade the following is valid:
A: 90 points or higher
B: 75-89 points
C: 65-74 points
D: 55- 64 pointsE: 45-54 points
Fx: 40-44 points
F: less than 40 points 
For approved grade (E or higher) the following should be satisfied
- The student has completed the compulsory part of LAB1.
- The student should be able to explain the different models of distributed system
- The student should be able to specify the properties of distributed algorithms 

For higher grade the student should be able to master the basic algorithm tested according to the exam.  

Offered by

ICT/Software and Computer system

Examiner

Seif Haridi <haridi@kth.se>

Add-on studies

M.Sc. project, Ph.D education

Version

Course plan valid from: Autumn 08.
Examination information valid from: Autumn 07.