Distributed systems 
Fall 2008
Exercise 1

Tanenbaum Ch 1 or CoDoKi Ch 1,2

Topic: Prerequisites and introduction

1. Describe how the distributed names service DNS works.

2. You can create a distributed application by, for example, partitioning
   the data (and storing each partition on a different server) or
   replicating the data (and storing each replicate on a different
   server). Both solutions have their advantages and disadvantages. What
   kinds? The aspects to be considered are availability, reliability
   (what is "reliability"?), performance, and scalability .
   Use the internet directory system DNS as an example.
   The baseline in the evaluation is a traditional centralized system.

3. The performance of a distributed system can be improved using caches
   and proxies. 
   a) How do these techniques affect the performance and scalability of
      the distributed system?
   b) Under what circumstances are these techniques useful?
   c) What problems can you encounter when using these techniques?