Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Stefan Eicker

Description

Components of modern software systems are usually distributed over computers of a network. Especially the data are frequently governed by dedicated data servers, and the websites by web servers. The course "Distributed Business Information Systems" deals with fundamentals of developing such distributed systems, and thus lives up to the increasing significance of distributed systems for business informatics. Within this course, we will cover the theoretical foundations and models of distributed systems in order to present relevant problems to the students. Furthermore, we will discuss classical middleware approaches with a special emphasis on comparisons of up-to-date object-oriented architectures.

This course will be conducted from a software-oriented point of view. Aspects of network engineering and distributed databases will be touched only marginally, if at all, as they are subjects of other courses. The knowledge you obtain from studying the lessons will be extended and supplemented by homework assignment including case studies.

Outline

1. Introduction to Distributed Systems
2. Distributed Systems Fundamentals
3. Models of Distributed Systems
4. Features of Remote Method Invocations
5. Classical Middleware Approaches
   5.1. Distributed Operating Systems
   5.2. Distributed Databases
   5.3. Functional Approach, esp. Transaction Management
   5.4. Remote Procedure Calls
6. Object-Oriented Middleware Approaches
   6.1. Corba
   6.2. Java RMI
   6.3. Enterprise Java Beans
   6.4. .Net Framework
7. Simple Object Access Protocol
8. Management of Processes in Distributed Systems
9. Trading

Learning Objectives

The course will provide students with both basic theoretical knowledge and an overview about today's applications of distributed systems. It will deal with advantages and disadvantages of distributed systems as well as approaches to middleware; traditional approaches like RPC, functional approaches, and distributed DBMS on the one hand, and distributed object systems on the other hand. With regard to distributed object systems, we will discuss the solutions Corba, RMI and .Net. Moreover, we will discuss the significance of threads for distributed systems and Trading mechanisms for mediation between service seekers and service providers. After successfully completing the course students will be able to judge problems occurring in the design of distributed systems and choose appropriate solutions.

Method of teaching

This course is a hypermedia course (type 2). The course material is available as hypertext with links connecting text, graphics, and external information sources. Linkage of course materials with external resources is supposed to facilitate independent searching and locating of information by students.

The course is divided into lectures and exercises. "Lecture" means that hypermedia material is studied by you in a linear or nonlinear sequence. Exercises are supposed to give a possibility to deepen the knowledge covered in the lectures. They comprise theoretical questions, searching for information on the Internet, and solving practical problems with distributed systems. The time for studying the hypermedia material is approximately four hours per week. Communication between students and instructors is based on electronic media like discussion forum, bulletin board, chat room, and e-mail.

Active participation and hands-on experience are indispensable. Homework will be assigned regularly. Solutions have to be submitted by e-mail and are graded by the instructor. There will be a final exam at the end of the course.

Requirements

In addition to basic knowledge of business informatics and elementary programming concepts, this course requires hands-on experience with network communication (OSI reference model etc.) and the Internet, and with object-oriented programming.

You should have Internet Explorer 5.x or higher to access the course material, and a word processor to submit your homework assignment. In case you need special software to complete an assignment, this software will be provided on a terminal server or in form of a download.

If you take this course as a certificate course, you will obtain a VGU certificate for passing the course if you solve the exercises satisfactorily and pass the final exam.

Credits

6.0 credit points