Distributed Systems

Question 1

What is the definition of a distributed system?

Answer 1

Collection of independent computers that appear as a single coherent system

Question 2

What are the goals of a distributed system?

Answer 2

Connect users and resources
Transparency
Openness
Scalability

Question 3

What types of distributed systems are there?

Answer 3

Cluster Computing
Grid Computing
Distributed Information Systems
Distributed Pervasive Systems

Question 4

What software architectures are there?

Answer 4

Layered
Object-Based
Data-Centered
Event-Based

Question 5

What centralized system architectures are there?

Answer 5

Application Layering
Multi-tiered

Question 6

What decentralized system architectures are there?

Answer 6

Vertical
Horizontal (P2P)
- Structured: Chord, CAN
- Unstructered: CDN

Question 7

What does dependability entail?

Answer 7

Availability
Reliability
Safety
Maintainability

Question 8

How do failures occur?

Answer 8

Faults cause errors which induce failures

Question 9

Which types of faults are there?

Answer 9

Transient
Intermittent
Permanent

Question 10

What types of failures are there?

Answer 10

Crash
Omission (missing response)
Timing (late response)
Response (incorrect response)
Arbitrary

Question 11

What does the CAP-Theorem say?

Answer 11

At most 2 out of 3:
Consistency
Availability
Partition tolerance