Note:

I accompany each topic with examples of how the topic has found use in real-world systems. I expect to have at least one invited speaker come address the class with how he/she has designed and used fault-tolerant systems. An important focus of the class is the semester-long project on a cutting-edge problem. I expect that with some additional work after the semester, the successful projects will lead to publications, as it has for a majority of the projects in past offerings.

Counts as:

Normally Offered:

Each Spring

Campus/Online:

On-campus only

Requisites:

None

Requisites by Topic:

Any one high level programming language experience: a basic background in probability

Catalog Description:

The course provides an introduction to the hardware and software methodologies for specifying, modeling and designing fault-tolerant systems supported by case studies of real systems. The material presents a broad spectrum of hardware and software error detection and recovery techniques that can be used to build reliable networked systems. The lectures discuss how the hardware and software techniques interplay, what techniques can be provided in COTS hardware, what can be embedded into operating system and network communication layers, and what can be provided via a distributed software layer and in the application itself. The course focuses on hands-on learning through the design and development of systems in the course project, which carries 50% of the weightage for the course grade. We will be using a modeling software called UltraSAN to model a realistic system and then learn how the model can be solved to evaluate various dependability properties of the system.

Lecture Outline: