Topics

The lecture introduces the fundamentals of systems architecture. Students learn the key building blocks and construction principles for local systems first and for distributed systems later on. A primary concern for us is to highlight references to neighboring topics. Examples are discussing the interaction of certain hardware characteristics with system building blocks, the introduction to the basics of cryptographic techiques and the application of mathematical methods to ascertain quantitative properties of systems. We also focus on some principles for constructing fault-tolerant and secure systems already in this basic course. A third concern is to get students acquainted with techniques for low-level machine-oriented programming at the latest in this lecture.

Slides (in German only)

1. Unix:
   • Introduction (UNIX, Tools)
   • Building blocks
   • UNIX
2. Threads:
   • Introduction
   • Part 2
3. Memory:
   • Virtual Memory, part 1
   • Virtual Memory, part 2
4. Security
   • Introduction
   • Symmetric Cryptography
   • Asymmetric Cryptography
   • ACLs / Capabilities
   • Signatures
5. Deadlocks
   • Deadlocks
6. File Systems
   • Introduction
   • Disks and Fault Tolerance
   • Robust File Systems
7. Distributed Systems
   • Client/Server Architectures
   • Kerberos
8. Quantitative Methods
9. Device Drivers

Exercises (in German only)

Exercises start in the 2nd week of the semester (October 15).

1. Unix — as PDF
2. Threads — as PDF
   • Solution to Semaphore question
3. Memory Management — as PDF
   • web-app demonstrating virtual to physical address translation
4. Deadlocks — as PDF
5. Quantitative Methods — as PDF
6. Security — as PDF

Exam Preparation

The numbering at the end of each question designates the year and month of the original use of the qeustion in an exam.

1. Threads
2. Memory
3. Deadlocks
4. Quantitative Methods
5. Security
6. Miscellaneous

• Selected Solutions for the marked (*) questions
• Exam February 2012
• Exam July 2012