2024 Faculty Courses School of Computing Department of Mathematical and Computing Science Graduate major in Mathematical and Computing Science
Distributed Systems
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Mathematical and Computing Science
- Instructor(s)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 7-8 Tue / 7-8 Fri
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- MCS.M429
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2024
- Offered quarter
- 3Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 14, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This year, this lecture will be given in English.
This lecture will introduce the architecture, communication, process, naming, consistency, security, and fault tolerance that are the foundations of distributed systems. Students will learn practical aspects of building and operating distributed systems using microservices as examples. Learn about orchestration tools and service meshes for efficient operation of microservices, and experience microservices by introducing Kubernetes and Istio. Furthermore, the course introduces the details of container and network configuration.
Course description and aims
You will be able to acquire the following skills:
1. You will learn about the architecture, processes, communications, security, etc. that support distributed systems.
2. You will be able to operate microservices.
3. You will be able to evaluate and improve the performance of distributed systems.
4. You will be able to debug and analyze distributed systems using service meshes.
5. You will be able to understand and correctly use the container virtualization and network configuration that support microservices.
Keywords
Distributed systems, microservices, fault tolerance, autoscaling, distributed tracing, Kubernetes
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Lectures will be based on slides. Network programming exercises will be conducted using VMs
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction Learn the overview of distributed systems | Not specified |
| Class 2 | Distributed architecture Learn the basics of distributed systems | Not specified |
| Class 3 | Processes In distributed systems, there are various ways to use processes depending on the purpose. Learn the details of processes that communicate efficiently. | Network Basics Exercises |
| Class 4 | Communication Introduce communication in distributed systems and learn how multiple distributed elements work together. | Not specified |
| Class 5 | Introduction to network programming Learn about network programming. Create a simple server and client. | Not specified |
| Class 6 | Name resolution Name resolution is necessary to uniquely recognize distributed resources, and learn about naming in distributed systems. | Name Resolution Exercise |
| Class 7 | Consistency and replicas Copying and distributing data can improve reliability and performance, but it is important to ensure consistency. Learn about the placement of replicas, which are copies of data, in distributed systems and how to ensure consistency. | Not specified |
| Class 8 | Network programming, part 2 Learn about web servers and L4 LB | Report on network programs |
| Class 9 | Fault tolerance Introduce failures that can occur in distributed systems and learn how to deal with them. | Not specified |
| Class 10 | Security Learn about security in distributed systems. | Not specified |
| Class 11 | Microservices Learn about containers and microservices | Not specified |
| Class 12 | Monitoring, management, and control of distributed systems Learn about monitoring and management of distributed systems | Distributed Systems Exercises |
| Class 13 | Network programming, advanced 1/2 Learn about tracing | Report for Microservice |
| Class 14 | Network programming, advanced 2/2 Learn about tracing |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
M. van Steen and A.S. Tanenbaum, Distributed Systems, 4th ed., distributed-systems.net, 2023.
https://www.distributed-systems.net/index.php/books/ds4/
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Not specified
Evaluation methods and criteria
- Small practices
- 2 reports
Related courses
- MCS.T233 ： Computer Systems
- MCS.T314 ： Operating Systems
Prerequisites
Have basic knowledge of network