CIS 5050: Software Systems (Spring 2024)
Overview
This course provides an introduction to fundamental concepts of distributed systems, and the design principles for building large-scale computational systems.
We will study some of the key building blocks – such as synchronization primitives, group communication protocols, and replication techniques – that form the foundation of modern distributed systems, such as cloud-computing platforms or the Internet. We will also look at some real-world examples of distributed systems, such as GFS, MapReduce, Spark, and Dynamo, and we will gain some hands-on experience with building and running distributed systems.
CIS 5050 is one of the core courses in the MSE program, as well as an option for the WPE-I requirement for PhD students.
Logistics
Instructor:
Linh Thi Xuan Phan
Office hours: Thursdays 12-1pm (Levine 576)
When and where: Tuesdays/Thursdays 10:15-11:45am,
LRSM Auditorium
Teaching assistants and office hours:
Note: We will conduct office hours online via OHQ until a location is assigned.
Course policies
Course textbook:
Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms, 4th edition (by M. van Steen and A. Tanenbaum).
You can get a digital version of this book for free; hardcopies will be available, e.g., from Amazon soon.
Additional material will be drawn from selected research publications.
Prerequisites:
The course requires undergraduate-level operating systems and networking knowledge, such as CIS 3800 and NETS 212 (or the equivalence). You should also be proficient in C or C++ programming.
Workload:
The course will involve three substantial programming assignments, a group project, and two midterms. Both the programming assignments and the project involve a considerable amount of programming in C/C++, and the project requires the ability to work with your classmates in teams.
Grading:
Your letter grade will be based on the individual programming assignments (35%), the group project (30%), the
midterm exams (30%), and participation (5%).
Attendance and other policies:
Class attendance is mandatory and will count towards your participation score. More details on attendance and key course policies can be found here.
Resources
We will be using Ed Discussion for all course-related discussions.
Homework assignments and project are available for download from the assignments page. You can submit your solutions online via GradeScope.
Special sessions
The goal of the special sessions is to provide you with tools and resources that might be useful for the assignments and project. See the special sessions page for more details.
Tentative schedule
Date |
Topic |
Details |
Reading |
Remarks |
Jan 18 |
Introduction
[pdf]
[video]
|
Course overview Policies |
Chapter 1 |
|
Jan 23 |
Processes and threads
[pdf]
[video]
|
Basic concepts The UNIX model Implementation in the kernel |
Chapter 3.1 (Sections 1+2) |
HW0 |
Jan 25 |
System calls
[pdf]
[video #1] [video #2]
|
System calls The file API Kernel entry/exit |
|
HW0 due (on 1/26); HW1 |
Jan 30 + Feb 1 |
Concurrency control
[pdf]
[video #1] [video #2]
|
Synchronization primitives Race conditions, critical sections Deadlock and starvation |
|
|
Feb 6 |
Synchronization
[pdf]
[video]
|
Semaphores Classical synchronization problems Monitors and condition variables |
[Hoare monitors] [Mesa monitors] |
|
Feb 8+13 |
Communication
[pdf]
[video]
|
Sockets Socket programming Handling multiple connections |
Chapters 4.1+4.3 |
HW1 due; HW2 |
Feb 15+20 |
Remote Procedure Calls
[pdf]
[video #1] [video #2]
|
Programming model Stub code; marshalling; binding Handling failures |
Chapters 4.2+8.3 |
|
Feb 22 |
Naming
[pdf]
[video #1] [video #2]
|
Kinds of names; name spaces The Domain Name System; Akamai; DNSSEC |
Chapter 6 |
HW2MS1 due (on 2/21) |
Feb 27 |
Last day to drop |
|
Feb 27+29 |
Clock synchronization
[pdf]
[video #1] [video #2]
[video #3]
|
Logical clocks NTP and Berkeley algorithms Lamport and vector clocks |
Chapters 5.1+5.2 |
|
Mar 2-10 |
Spring break |
Mar 12 |
Group communication
[pdf]
[video]
|
Reliable multicast IP multicast FIFO, causal and total ordering |
Chapter 8.4 |
HW2MS2+3 due (3/11) |
Mar 14 |
First midterm exam |
Mar 19 |
Group communication (cont)
[pdf]
[video]
|
Algorithms for FIFO, causal and total ordering |
Chapter 7 |
HW3 |
Mar 21 |
Replication
[pdf]
[video]
|
Primary/backup protocols Quorum protocols Sequential and causal consistency Client-centric models |
Chapter 7 |
Project |
Mar 26 |
Bigtable and Project
[pdf]
[video]
|
Bigtable case study Project overview |
[Bigtable] |
|
Mar 28 |
Fault tolerance
[pdf]
[video]
|
2PC and 3PC Logging and recovery Chandy-Lamport algorithm |
Chapters 8.5+8.6; |
|
April 2 |
State-machine replication
|
Failure models The Consensus problem Paxos |
Chapters 8.1+8.2; [Paxos] |
HW3 due |
April 2 |
Last day to withdraw |
April 4 |
Non-crash Fault Tolerance
|
The Byzantine Generals problem Impossibility results Solutions |
[BFT] |
|
Apr 9 |
Distributed file systems
|
NFS Coda Disconnected operation |
Chapter 2.3.3; [Coda] |
|
Apr 11 |
Google File System
|
Google cluster architecture Reading and writing in GFS Consistency and fault tolerance |
[Cluster] [GFS] |
|
Apr 16 |
MapReduce
|
MapReduce programming model System architecture |
[MapReduce] |
|
Apr 18 |
Spark
|
Differences to MapReduce RDDs Case study: PageRank |
[RDD] [Spark] |
|
Apr 23 + April 25 |
DHTs and Dynamo
|
Distributed hash tables The CAP dilemma Amazon Dynamo |
[Dynamo] |
|
Apr 30 |
Second midterm exam |
May 2-5 |
Reading days |
May 6-14 |
Project demos and reports |
|