CS 545: Distributed Systems Spring 2006 Department of Computer Science Rutgers University

1. CS 545: Distributed SystemsSpring 2006Department of Computer ScienceRutgers University Thu D. Nguyen CS 545: Distributed Systems

2. Goals • Learn some fundamentals of how to build distributed systems • Read and discuss interesting recent work in several areas of distributed systems • Get involved in distributed systems research by doing a project CS 545: Distributed Systems

3. Pre-requisites • Graduate-level course in operating systems • Strong motivation CS 545: Distributed Systems

4. Structure • Will run somewhat like a seminar • Course based on presentation and discussion of papers • Background reading from Tanenbaum & van Steen text book • Students are responsible for all of the presentations • I may give short discussions on appropriate background for some topics before the presentations • Auditors are expected to read papers and participate • Two papers per lecture + discussion of progress • Also weekly reading from text book for background CS 545: Distributed Systems

5. Requirements • Presentations and research project • Expect about 2 (perhaps 3, depending on enrollment) • Participate in 1 project • Read and summarize papers before classes • Summaries will be electronically submitted • Write 1 position paper • You will “grade” each other’s position paper • Participation during classes • At the end of the semester, you must document 3 times that a comment or question from you led to a significant discussion during class CS 545: Distributed Systems

6. Grading • 20% presentations • 10% paper summaries • 40% project • 10% position paper • 20% class discussions and participation CS 545: Distributed Systems

7. Logistics • Mailing list: dcs_545_s06@rams.rutgers.edu • If you are registered for the course, you will be added to the list automatically • If you are auditing, you can send me email if you want to be on the list • Paper summaries should be submitted via WebCT • A separate discussion board will be created per paper • Discussion boards and chat rooms also available in WebCT CS 545: Distributed Systems

8. Tentative List of Topics • Cluster-based file systems • Cluster-based services • Federated systems • Infrastructure • Resource management • Services • Replication and consistency • Availability • Management • Security CS 545: Distributed Systems

9. Presentations and Summaries • Make sure to prepare your presentation well! • Getting slides from authors or other sources is not allowed • Grading will be based on how well you (a) organize and deliver your presentation, (b) cover the critical points of the paper, and (c) answer questions • Please, do not make us wait. Set yourself up before the beginning of class • Summaries should describe the key ideas and results • Should also point out good and bad aspects of each paper • Suggestion(s) for future work are highly encouraged • Must not be regurgitation of parts of the paper; use your own words • Choose which papers you would like to present and send me email • FCFS CS 545: Distributed Systems

10. Project • Participation in 1 of 3 projects • Build and operate a highly available cluster-based web service • Build monitoring and fault diagnosis infrastructure for a distributed enterprise environment such as the department’s • Build a distributed front-end for a meta WAN-based file system with QoS guarantees CS 545: Distributed Systems