CMPSCI 677: Homework 1

Due: Sept 25, 2009

Web posted: Sept 18, 2009

General Instructions:

Your solutions will need to be subitted via the SPARK web submission system (e.g., via uploading a pdf or text file). Instructions for doing so will be posted shortly.
The goal of the homework is to ensure that you keep up the readings from the textbook. The use of Internet to google for solutions or use of solutions manual for the textbook is prohibited.

Explain the difference between a pure distributed operating system and a network operating system.
How would you differentiate between caching and replication? Give examples.
Explain what is meant by (distribution) transparency, and give examples of different types of transparency.
What is churn in a P2P system? How does Chord handle churn?
What are the advantages of superpeers in a P2P network?
What is the role of the tracker in a Bittorrent system?
Give an example of a web-application that is built using a multi-tier architecture where: (i) the user-interface tier is split between the client and the server and the applicaition and data tiers reside on the server; (ii) user-interface tier resides at the client, the application-tier is split across the client and the server and the database tier resides on the server.
For an I/O intensive task, which might lead to better performance - user-level threads or kernel-level threads, and why? Make any necessary assumptions.
What is cache affinity? What is its importance in multiprocessor scheduling?
Explain the difference between a sender-initiated and a receiver-initiated policy for distributed scheduling.

Last modified: Fri Sep 18 17:00:21 EDT 2009