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Sit 411: Distributed Systems Question Paper

Sit 411: Distributed Systems

Course:Information And Communication Technology

Institution: Kenyatta University question papers

Exam Year:2008

KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2007/2008
INSTITUTE OF OPEN LEARNING
SUPPLEMENTARY/SPECIAL EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SIT 411: DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

DATE: Thursday 9th October 2008 ______________TIME: 3.00pm – 5.00pm
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer question one and any other two questions from this
paper.

Question One
(a)
Explain FIVE types of hardware, software and data resources that can be shared.

[10 marks]
(b)
Distinguish between distributed and centralized systems.
[4 marks]
(c)
Explain any FIVE advantages using distributed systems for data processing.

[10 marks]
(d)
Explain the term client/server computing.

[2 marks]
(e)
Explain the following terms

[4 marks]
(i)
Middle ware
(ii)
Server

Question Two
(a)
Distinguish client server computing from any other form of distributed data
processing.

[6 marks]
(b)
Use world wide web to illustrate the concept of how resources can be shared and
the client server technology.

[10 marks]
(c)
Clearly explain the concept of “thin clients”.

[4 marks]

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Question Three
(a)
Explain the various local resources that are vulnerable to attack by an un-trusted
program that is downloaded from remote sites and runs in a local computer.

[6 marks]
(b)
Explain the various layers of the OSI reference model in order.
[14 marks]

Question Four
(a)
Explain any three major types of computer networks.

[6 marks]
(b)
Explain the following terms:

[10 marks]
(i)
Remote procedure call
(ii)
Domain name system
(iii)
Mutual exclusion
(iv)
Concurrency
(v)
Firewall
(c)
Explain any two operating system design issues that may be considered when
designing distributed systems.

[4 marks]

Question Five
(a)
Describe the term “COBRA” and explain the services of COBRA. [10 marks]
(b)
Distributed transactions must fulfill four properties; two of them are isolation and
durability. Explain the meaning of the two properties.

[4 marks]
(c)
Discuss how to ensure that the properties in (b) above are fulfilled and what
techniques that can be used.

[4 marks]

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Sit 411: Distributed Systems Question Paper

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