Overview
Distributed Systems: Principles and Development you will learn basic principles of distributed systems including architecture, design, and algorithms and how to use these principles in the development of distributed applications. You will explore the significant distributed system characteristics of scalability, heterogeneity, security, and failure handling in addition to the fundamentals of networking, inter-process communication, remote invocation, and operating system support. You will examine different approaches to supporting distributed applications including distributed objects, web services, and peer-to-peer solutions. You will learn about distributed file systems, naming, and data-related aspects of distributed transactions, and data replication. Algorithms associated to timing, and coordination and agreement will also be studied. You will also analyse the areas of mobile and ubiquitous computing and the social impact arising from the ubiquity of distributed systems. You will consolidate the key theoretical material through the computer lab tutorial sessions and development of software applications.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite unit: COIT20256 Data structures and AlgorithmsAnti-Requisite unit: COIT23005 Distributed Systems
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 3 - 2021
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Teaching evaluation
The unit provides good topics of the theoretical and practical knowledge of distributed systems.
Continue the current learning and teaching practices as the student feedback are all positive.
Feedback from Self-reflection
Teamwork (assessment) encourages critical thinking and enhancement of communication skills.
Continue the current standards for teamwork assessment.
Feedback from Teaching team reflection
Engagement is important for deep learning.
Nudge the absent students to attend classes; use group work and share and present work in classes.
- Develop distributed applications using networking, inter-process communication, and remote invocation
- Design and develop distributed applications using one of the approaches of distributed objects, web services, and peer-to-peer solutions
- Solve problems in the distributed systems domain by applying the principles of distributed systems to authentic problems
- Critique the issues involved in developing reliable, secure, and scalable distributed systems
- Discuss the technology needs and social impact arising from ubiquitous distributed systems
- Work independently and collaboratively in small teams.
Australian Computer Society (ACS) recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is in use in over 100 countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles.
ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile at https://www.acs.org.au/professionalrecognition/mysfia-b2c.html
This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA. The SFIA code is included:
- Systems Design (DESN)
- Systems Integration (SINT)
- Program ming/Software Development ( PROG),
- Database/Repository Design (DBDS)
- Testing (TEST)
- Network Support (NTAS)
- Release and Deployment (RELM),
- Application Support (ASUP).
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 35% | ||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 35% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||||
| 4 - Research | ||||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 35% | ||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 35% | ||||||||
Textbooks
Distributed Systems Concepts and Design
Edition: 5 (2012)
Authors: George Coulouris,Jean Dollimore, Tim Kindberg and Gordon Blair
Pearson Education
Gordon Blair Gordon Blair , UK
ISBN: 9780133001372
Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
If you prefer to study from a paper copy, they are available at the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code)
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- JDK 11 - OpenJDK
- Apache NetBeans IDE 12.4 (available from https://netbeans.apache.org/download/nb124/nb124.html)
- MySQL Community Server 8.0.26 (available from https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/)
- Apache TomEE 8.0.0 TomEE Plus (available from https://tomee.apache.org/download.html)
- Jakarta EE 8 (available from https://jakarta.ee/release/8/)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
m.tom@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
An Introduction to Distributed
Systems
Chapter
1 and 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Inter-process Communication
Chapter
4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Process and Thread Management – Operating System Support
Chapter
7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Distributed Objects and Introduction to Web Services
Chapter
5 and Lecture Notes
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Web Services
Chapter
9 and Lecture Notes
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Security in Distributed Systems
Chapter
11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Distributed File Systems and Name Services
Chapter
12 and 13
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Coordination and Agreement
Chapter
15
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Transactions and Concurrent Control
Chapter
16
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Distributed Transactions
Chapter
17
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Replication and Fault Tolerance
Chapter
18
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing
Chapter
19
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Unit Coordinator
Dr Mary Tom
College of Information and Communications Technology
School of Engineering and Technology
Central Queensland University
Brisbane
Phone: +61 7 32951119
Email: m.tom@cqu.edu.au
1 Practical Assessment
Your task for this assignment is to design, implement, test and document a client/server system which allows concurrent access to multiple clients. The purpose of this assignment is to assess your competency in Java TCP networking, multi-threading, and object serialization. This assignment task is to assess your skills in practicing the theoretical concepts learnt in Weeks 1 - 4. Further details are in the Assignment 1 Specification document available on the Unit website .
Week 6 Monday (20 Dec 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 8 Monday (10 Jan 2022)
- Appropriate analysis and design of a software application using networking and client-server communication for the given problem
- Correct implementation of the application using networking, multi-threading, and object serialization.
- Correct incorporation of multi-user access to the software application
- Use of good programming techniques/practices
- Rigorous testing of software application.
- Develop distributed applications using networking, inter-process communication, and remote invocation
- Solve problems in the distributed systems domain by applying the principles of distributed systems to authentic problems
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Self-management
2 Practical Assessment
Your task for this assignment is to design, implement, test and document a secure three tier client/server system which allows concurrent access to multiple clients. Your system will have graphical user interface, a business logic layer, and a back-end database. This assignment task is to assess your skills in practicing the theoretical concepts learnt in Weeks 1 - 8 and in the pre-requisite units. You will be completing the software design and development working in team consisting of 3 - 5 members. You will develop a test plan and test the software application individually. You will individually write and submit a report documenting the testing details and any other theoretical aspects required. Further details are in the Assignment 2 Specification document available on the Unit website .
Week 9 Thursday (20 Jan 2022) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 11 Thursday (3 Feb 2022)
- Analyse the given problem and design a 3 tier client-server software application using distributed system concepts.
- Correct design and implementation of a software solution to provide a secure multi-user client access using one of the approaches of distributed objects, web services, or peer-to-peer communication.
- Use of good programming techniques/practices
- User interface design following user interface design guidelines.
- Rigorous testing of software application
- Correct and concise documentation as required.
- Good collaboration working in a small team.
- Design and develop distributed applications using one of the approaches of distributed objects, web services, and peer-to-peer solutions
- Solve problems in the distributed systems domain by applying the principles of distributed systems to authentic problems
- Critique the issues involved in developing reliable, secure, and scalable distributed systems
- Work independently and collaboratively in small teams.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
3 Written Assessment
Your task in this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of the role distributed systems play in facilitating pervasive computing and critically evaluate the technology needs in terms of reliability and security and the related issues impacting the society. This assessment task is to assess your knowledge in the topics learnt in Weeks 9 - 12 as well as your understanding of the current developments in distributed systems. Further details are available in the Assignment 3 Specification document available on the Unit website.
Exam Week Monday (14 Feb 2022) 11:45 pm AEST
The marked assignment will be reutrned after publication of grades.
- Clear demonstration of your understanding of the importance of distributed system principles of security, reliability etc. as per the requirement.
- Demonstration of good understanding of the topics related to current developments in Distributed Systems as given in the specification.
- Demonstration of deep understanding of the theoretical concepts learnt in relation to current applications.
- Critical review of relevant information and logical construction of arguments.
- Relevant discussion of the impact of specific aspects of distributed systems to society.
- Appropriate formatting, clarity of expressions, and relevant and correct use of references.
- Critique the issues involved in developing reliable, secure, and scalable distributed systems
- Discuss the technology needs and social impact arising from ubiquitous distributed systems
- Work independently and collaboratively in small teams.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
