Distributed Systems 1

Larbi Ben M'hidi University - Oum El Bouaghi

Faculty of Exact Sciences and Natural and Life Science
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Intended for:

1st Year of Master's Degree (Computer Science)

Specialty:

Networks and Distributed Systems

Objectives:

• Introduce the fundamental principles of distributed systems  
• Understand communication models and classical problems  
• Learn the basics of synchronization in distributed environments  

Prerequisites:

• Algorithmics
• Operating systems
• Computer networks

Module Content:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Distributed Systems

• Definitions, objectives, expected properties
• Application examples (Cloud, P2P, Blockchain, etc.)
• Challenges of distributed systems
• Middleware and software abstraction
• Theoretical foundations: networking, concurrency, scalability

Chapter 2: Architectures of Distributed Systems

• Taxonomies (hardware, OS, network, software)
• Client-Server, Multi-tier, P2P, Proxy/Cache models
• Microservices and containers (Docker, Kubernetes – introduction)

Chapter 3: Distributed Communication Paradigms

• Synchronous and asynchronous message passing
• Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)
• Remote Method Invocation (RMI)
• Event-based and shared-memory communication
• Basics of group communication

Chapter 4: Time, Scheduling, and Synchronization

• Concurrency and causality
• Physical time and synchronization (Cristian, Berkeley)
• Logical clocks (Lamport, vector clocks)
• Global and causal scheduling
• Application: Mutual exclusion (centralized and distributed)

Chapter 5: Fundamental Problems and Coordination

• Naming and service discovery
• Distributed coordination: deadlocks, synchronization, state management
• Termination detection (Dijkstra’s algorithms and related approaches)

Evaluation Method:

• Exam: 60%
• Continued Evaluation: 40% (20% + 20%)

References:

• G. Coulouris, J. Dollimore, T. Kindberg — Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design, Addison-Wesley, 2003.
• A. S. Tanenbaum, M. van Steen — Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms, Prentice Hall, 2002.
• Michel Raynal — Synchronization and Global State in Distributed Systems, Éditions Eyrolles, 1992.
• M. Singhal, N. G. Shivaratri — Advanced Concepts in Operating Systems, McGraw-Hill, 1994.
• Nancy Lynch — Distributed Algorithms, Elsevier, 1996.
• Ajay D. Kshemkalyani, Mukesh Singhal — Distributed Computing: Principles, Algorithms, and Systems, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Nicola Santoro — Design and Analysis of Distributed Algorithms, Wiley, 2007.
• Alexandre Duret-Lutz — Distributed Algorithms, Lecture Notes.
• Cyril Gavoille — Distributed Algorithms, Master 1&2, University of Bordeaux, 2015.
• Jie Wu — Distributed System Design, CRC Press, 1999.