ken@gvax.cs.cornell.edu (Ken Birman) (03/20/89)
FINGERLAKES `89: AN ADVANCED COURSE ON DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS
ITHACA, NEW YORK, JULY 10-20 1989
This is to announce a short course on distributed sys-
tems that will be held next summer, at Cornell University.
The field of distributed computing is undergoing rapid
changes with the introduction of new programming methodolo-
gies and the migration of next-generation communication tools
and protocols from the laboratory into practice. The course
is aimed at graduate students and industrial practitioners
with an interest in tracking these important developments.
The course will consist of 10 days of lectures on the
topics shown below. It is based on The Arctic `88 Advanced
Course on Distributed Systems, which was held in Tromso,
Norway. Attendees are assumed to have a background
equivalent to that of a second year graduate student,
including familiarity with basic issues in operating systems
and networking. Advance readings and a copy of a forthcom-
ing textbook, coauthored by the lecturers, will be provided.
The tuition of $1250 ($750 for full-time students) includes
course materials, breakfast and lunch, and fees for social
events. Some student scholarships will be awarded to
deserving applicants. Attendance is limited to 200.
COURSE OUTLINE
Introduction
Survey of issues in distributed computing.
Communication
Interprocess communication
Remote procedure call
Naming and security
Naming, authentication and cryptography
Protection
Data Storage
File Systems
Transactions
Transactional mechanisms and applications
Transactional theory in object-oriented systems
Replication
Transactional data replication
Reliable broadcast protocols
Exploiting virtual synchrony
Real-time systems
Abstractions for simplifying distributed algorithms
Realtime databases and concurrency control
Distributed control mechanisms
Methodology
Derivation of distributed programs
High-level specifications of distributed programs
Distributed Systems Architecture
The Advanced Networked Systems Architecture
Panel discussion and conclusions
For each area, the lecturers will discuss the current
state of the art, review relevant systems work, and point to
directions for future research.
The course will be structured as a series of daily lec-
tures with several afternoon discussion sections. The dis-
cussions will permit smaller groups of attendees to interact
directly with the lecturers, either to focus on issues that
arise out of the lectures or to pursue other topics of
interest to the group. The course closely parallels the
textbook.
THE LECTURERS
The Fingerlakes 89 lecturers are internationally known
researchers whose interests span the full range of distri-
buted computing.
Kenneth P. Birman is an Associate Professor of Com-
puter Science at Cornell University, where he heads the ISIS
Project. His research focuses on methods for constructing
fault-tolerant distributed software that exploits replicated
data, distributed execution and concurrency. He is also an
Associate Editor of the ACM Transactions on Computer Sys-
tems.
Susan Davidson is an Assistant Professor in the Depart-
ment of Computer and Information Science at the University
of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include fault-
tolerance, distributed systems, database systems and real-
time systems.
Andrew J. Herbert heads the ANSA Project, a
Cambridge-based industry consortium developing an Advanced
Networked Systems Architecture. Prior to joining ANSA, he
headed the Mayflower project and was a developer of the Cam-
bridge Ring system in the Computer Laboratory at Cambridge
University, where he is a Fellow of Wolfson College.
Keith Marzullo is an Assistant Professor of Computer
Science at Cornell University. His research focuses on the
development of large scale fault-tolerant distributed com-
puting applications and on realtime applications. Prior to
joining Cornell in 1986, he developed the JASMINE software
control system at XEROX SDD and a clock synchronization
facility for the XEROX research internet.
Sape J. Mullender is head of the Amoeba distributed
systems project at the Centre of Mathematics and Computer
Science in Amsterdam. He is particularly interested in
high-performance distributed computing and the design of
scalable fault-tolerant services. He is also concerned
about organization and protection in distributed systems
that can span a continent.
Roger M. Needham is Professor and Department Head of
the Computer Laboratory at Cambridge University and a Fellow
of the Royal Society. He has contributed extensively to
every aspect of distributed computing and has most recently
been interested in computer protection and security.
Mahadev Satyanarayanan is an Assistant Professor of
Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He
currently leads an effort to build a distributed file sys-
tem, Coda, that is scalable, secure and highly resilient to
failures. He has contributed in the past to the design and
implementation of the Andrew file system, a large-scale dis-
tributed file system now in use at CMU and other sites.
Michael D. Schroeder is a member of the research staff
at Digital's Systems Research Center in Palo Alto, Califor-
nia. His particular interest is discovering practical
structures for distributed systems. Over the years he has
worked on computer protection and security, encryption-based
authentication protocols, computer message systems, naming
in large networks, remote procedure call performance, and
various distributed file systems.
Fred B. Schneider is an Associate Professor of Computer
Science at Cornell University. His research is primarily
concerned with methodologies for designing and reasoning
about concurrent programs. He is an editor of Distributed
Computing, Information Processing Letters, and Springer-
Verlag Texts and Monographs in Computer Science.
Sam Toueg is an Associate Professor of Computer Science
at Cornell University. His research interests include
fault-tolerance, distributed systems, realtime systems and
and distributed databases.
William E. Weihl is an Associate Professor of Computer
Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His
research interests include concurrency control and fault-
tolerance, programming methodology, and programming
languages. He is one of the principal designers of the
Argus and Mercury systems developed at MIT.
THE LOCATION
The course will be held on the Cornell University campus,
situated in the beautiful Fingerlakes District of Upstate New
York. Cornell is located on a 40-mile long lake in an area
known for a wide range of summer sporting and recreational
possibilities. Participants will have an opportunity to swim
in local gorges beneath waterfalls and in the lake, sample the
local wines, and visit Corning Glass, which maintains a world
renowned glass museum and offers tours of the Steuben Crystal
manufacturing center. Weather in mid-July is typically warm
and dry. Inexpensive on-campus accomodations are available.
The Fingerlakes area is a well known and popular summer
resort region for New York State. Additional information is
available for particpants who will be accompanied by other
family members.
SCHOLARSHIPS
The course will offer partial or full tuition scholarships
to a small number of full time students. Selection will be
based on the number of applicants and the financial status of
the course (the number of paying attendees). More information
is available from the address given below.
DEADLINES
Although registrations will be accepted until the course
reaches its enrollment limit, a $50 late fee will be charged
after April 1. Early registration is encouraged.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Fingerlakes `89
Department of Computer Science
4130 Upson Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
E-mail: fingerlakes89@cs.cornell.edu
Phone: Margaret Schimizzi
(607)-255-9198