Distributed Systems

Section 1
4 Marks
1. Explain evolution of distributed computing system.
2. Explain the message passing system in distributed system.
3. Describe process synchronization in distributed system.
4. Explain Mutual Exclusion in distributed system.
5. Describe Failure Handling in distributed system.

6. Write four important features of processor-pool model.

7. List four important difference between monolithic and micro kernel model.
8. Explain implementation of logical clock using counter.
9. Explain the mechanism used by FLIP protocol for
a. Transparent communication.
b. Group communication.

10.Discuss three design principles used for better performance in distributed

system.
11.Explain the two methods of dealing with buffer overflow problem in finite
bounded buffer.
12.What are the different degrees of reliability used in one-to-many
communication ? Give application for each.
13.Draw and explain the format of RPC reply messages.

14.How can we gain better performance in distributed system ?

15.Compare Network operating system with distributed operating system.
16.Explain different buffering strategies.
17.Explain architecture of workstation server model.
18.What are advantages of process migration in distributed system ?

19.With diagram list four important features of workstation server model of

distributed computing system.
20.List five important comparisons of monolithic and microkernel model.
21.What is non idempotent routine ? How are these routines handled by IPC
Protocol ?
22.Give five important features of VMTP (Versatile Message Transfer Protocol)
used for distributed systems.
23.With example, explain Bully election algorithm.
24.Differentiate between monolithic and microkernel models used for
designing a distributed operating system.
25.Why are conventional communication protocols for network systems
generally considered to be unsuitable for distributed systems ?
26.What is an idempotent operation ? Which of the following operations are
idempotent. Give justification for each.
a. Read_record (filename, record_num)
b. Read_next_rec (filename)
c. Seek (filename, position)
d. Add (int1, int2)
27.Explain RPC mechanism with diagram.
28.List the steps of process migration with diagram.

29.List the advantages of distributed computing systems over centralized ones.

30.Explain client-server binding mechanisms in RPC.
31.Describe workstation server model with diagram.
32.What are the different degrees of reliability used in one-to-many
communication ? Give one application for each.
33.List and explain the steps used for RPC.

34.List the advantages of distributed computing systems over centralized ones.

35.What is clock drift ? Why clock synchronization is necessary in distributed
systems ?
36.Explain client-server binding mechanisms in RPC.
37.With diagram, explain the different models of organizing threads.
38.What are the different degrees of reliability used in one-to-many
communication ? Give one application for each.

39.Explain the difference between distributed operating system and network

operating system.
40.What is buffering ? Explain finite buffering strategy.
41.Explain server implementation of RPC mechanism.
42.What is causal ordering of messages ? Explain this concept with diagram.
43.Explain correctness feature of the message passing systems.

44.Write short note on Processor Pool model.

45.Write short note on Applications of distributed systems.
46.Write short note on Desirable features of good message-passing system.
47.Write short note on RPC server creation semantics.
 48.Write short note on Causal ordering of messages for ordered delivery of
multicast messages.

49.Describe workstation server model with diagram.

50.What is buffering ? Explain Finite buffering strategy.
51.Explain server implementation of RPC mechanism.
52.What is causal ordering of messages ? Explain this concept with diagram.
53.Explain with example how to keep track of lost and out of sequence packets
in a multidatagram message transmission.

6 Marks
1. Explain all process migration mechanisms in detail.
2. Explain minicomputer model, workstation model and workstation server
model in detail.
3. What are the different issues in interprocess communication ?

4. What are Multi datagram messages ? Explain the working of Blast Protocol.
5. Explain the mechanisms for implementing the following IPC semantics.
a. Last one
b. Exactly once
c. Atleast one.
6. What is process migration ? With diagram, explain any two methods of address
space transfer mechanism.

7. Explain the communication protocols of RPC.

8. What is process migration ? List the advantages of process migration.
9. Explain the different types of Transparency in distributed operating system.

10.How can we handle idempotency and duplicate request message ?

11.What is middleware ? Explain layered architecture of middleware in distributed
system.
12.What is process migration ? Explain in detail the different method of address
space transfer mechanism.
13.Explain with diagram the structure of RPC and the binding server approach used
for binding client to server in RPC.
14.Illustrate with diagram the implementation of logical clocks using :
i. Counter
ii. Physical clock.
15.What are multidatagram messages ? Explain the working blast protocol used for
transmission of these messages.

16.Explain the mechanism used in the VMTP protocol for each of the following :
a. Handling of lost messages
b. Group communication
c. Flow control
d. Transparent communication
17.Suggest a suitable mechanism for implementing each of the following types of
IPC semantics
a. Last one
b. Exactly once
c. Atleast one.
18.With diagram explain the workstation model and workstation-server model
along with their advantages and disadvantages.

19.What is group communication ? Explain following with respect to one-to-

many communication.
a. Group addressing
b. Message delivery to receiver processes
c. Buffered and unbuffered multicast.
20.How to keep track of lost and out-of-sequence messages in multidatagram
message transfer ? Explain the protocol used for this with diagram.
21.Differentiate among the following types of operating system by defining their
essential properties :
a) Time sharing
b) Parallel processing
c) Network
d) Distributed.

22.What is middleware ? Draw the layered architecture of middleware and

explain the various layers of middleware.
23.Explain the mechanism used in the FLIP protocol for each of the following :
a. Transparent communication
b. Group communication
c. Secure communication
 d. Easy network management.

24.What is RPC ? Explain how the Client-Server binding takes place in RPC.
25.Explain the following with respect to one-to-many communication :
i) Group Management
ii) Flexible reliability in multicast communication
26.What is call semantics in RPC ? Explain different types of call semantics and give
example for each.

27.Explain call semantics of RPC.

28.Explain the following with respect to one-to-many communication.
i.Group Management
ii.Flexible reliability in multicast communication.
29.Explain the interprocess communication paradigms in distributed systems.

30.Explain in detail different communication protocols used for RPC.

31.Explain the structure of message with diagram and explain the nonblocking
send and nonblocking receive primitives in message passing.
32. What is group communication ? Explain following with respect to one-to-many
communication :
a. Group addressing.
b. Message delivery to receiver processes.
c. Buffered and unbuffered multicast.
 Section 2
4 Marks
1. Explain Suzuki-Kasami’s broadcast algorithm.
2. State and explain components of load distribution algorithm.
3. Explain any two design issues of distributed file system.
4. Explain working of grid computing.

5. Explain Grid Protocol Architecture and its layers with diagram.

6. What are advantages of distributed shared memory ?
7. Write a note on resource deadlock and communication deadlock.
8. Discuss how cache consistency is maintained in distributed file system.

9. Explain Suzuki Kasami’s broadcast algorithm.

10.What is grid computing ? List the functions of grid middleware.
11.Explain centralized-server algorithm for Distributed shared memory.
12.Explain any two design issues of distributed file system.

13.Explain Suzuki Kasami’s broadcast algorithm with example.

14.Explain typical data access action in distributed file system.
15.Write a note on distributed shared memory full replication algorithm.
16.Explain working of grid computing.
17.Explain architectural working of Google File System.

18.Illustrate with example, the non-token based distributed algorithm used

for implementation of mutual exclusion.
19.What is distributed file system ? Explain the two important goals of a
distributed file system.
20.What is memory coherence ? Explain write-invalidate and write-update
protocols.
21.State the requirements for load distribution.
22.With diagram, explain Grid Protocol architecture and its layers.
23.Illustrate CMH algorithm with example for deadlock detection ?
24.Explain design issues of DSM.
25.What is grid computing ? List the functions of grid middleware.
26.Explain the following consistency models :
a. Strict consistency
b. Sequential consistency
27.What is SOA ? Define the terms architecture and service in SOA.

28.What is clock synchronization ? Explain its types.

29.With example explain token passing approach for implementing mutual
exclusion.
30.What are different file models used in Distributed File system. Explain
each with diagram.
31.With diagram explain UNIX emulation in MACH operating system.
32.Write the pseudocode for producer consumer problem using thread
synchronization.

33.A centralized deadlock detection algorithm does not detect false

deadlocks. Find out how this algorithm prevents the detection of false
deadlocks.
34.What will happen in bully algorithm and ring algorithm, for electing a
coordinator when two or more processes almost simultaneously discover
that the coordinator has failed ?
35.With example explain, explain token passing approach for implementing
mutual exclusion.
36.What is resource grid ? Explain its types.
37.What is memory coherence protocol ? Explain any two memory coherence
protocols.

38.Explain centralized mutual exclusion algorithm.

39.What are features of good process migration ?
40.Explain the bully election algorithm.
41.Explain file sharing semantics in distributed file systems.
42.Sketch and explain the UNIX emulation in mach.
43.Explain different thread model.

44.Write short notes on Process migration mechanism.

 45.Write short notes on Centralized mutual exclusion algorithm.
46.Write short notes on Thread scheduling in MACH.
47.Write short notes on File sharing semantics in distributed file systems.
48.Write short notes on Advantages of process migration.

49.Explain advantages of process migration.

50.What is thread scheduling ? Explain different types of thread scheduling.
51.Explain Global averaging distributed algorithms for clock synchronization.
52.Explain the immutable-file sharing and the session semantics in
distributed file systems.
53.What is freezing time ? Explain the handling of co-processes in
process migration mechanism.

6 Marks
1. Explain different mechanism for building distributed file system.
2. Explain sender initiated load distributing algorithm.
3. Explain Ho-Ramamoorthy centralized deadlock detection algorithm.
4. What is grid ? Explain different types of grid.

5. What are different types of Grid, list and explain different application of grid
computing.
6. Explain GFS (Google File System) architecture with its architecture diagram.
7. Explain Deadlock handling strategies in distributed system in detail.

8. Explain typical data access action in distributed file system with flowchart.
9. Explain HO-Ramamoorthy centralized deadlock detection algorithm.
10.Explain sender-Initiated load distributing algorithm.

11.Explain Probe Based distributed algorithm for deadlock detection with an

example.
12.Explain sender-initiated load distributing algorithm.
13.What is grid ? Explain different types of grid.

14.Explain different mechanisms for building distributed file systems.

15.What are different control organizations for distributed deadlock detection ?
Explain each in detail.
16.Explain the components of a load distribution algorithm.

17.With diagram explain the general architecture of DSM systems.

18.Draw the diagram of grid protocol architecture and explain the layers,
service providers and users of grid.
19.With example illustrate richart agarwala’s distributed algorithm for mutual
exclusion and also list its disadvantages.

20.Explain file sharing semantics and file caching schemes used in Distributed
File System.
21.Draw and explain the architecture of distributed file system.
22.List and explain the four steps of process migration.

23.Discuss design and implementation issues of DSM.

24.Draw and explain the architecture of distributed file system.
25.With example explain WFG-based distributed algorithm for deadlock
detection and mention its disadvantage and the corrective measure taken
for it.

26.What are design goals for chorus ? Sketch and explain the chorus system
architecture.
27.What are the desirable features of good process migration mechanism ?
Explain in detail.
28.Explain in detail the file-caching scheme in distributed file system.

29.Explain election algorithms used for coordinator selection in distributed

systems.
30.Explain global deadlock detection with the help of example.
31.Explain implementation of logical clocks using counters and physical clock.

32.Explain in detail file-caching schemes in distributed file systems.

33.What are the design goals in MACH ? Sketch and explain the MACH system
architecture.
34.Explain the different methods of address space transfer mechanism in
process Migration.