Syllabus: Fault-Tolerant Systems (CS449/549)

The class web page contains most of the general information for the class as well as down-loadable material. Additional material will be handed out in class (or will be send to you by engineering outreach) as a hard copy. This page focuses on guidelines:

• MOTIVATION: You are responsible for all material presented in class and/or in assigned readings. Contact me as soon as practicable if you have a legitimate reason for missing any work (e.g. illness or death in the family). The sooner the better! In most cases, some requirements can be modified or waived.

• PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism or cheating of any type will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, copying or collusion on programs, projects, assignments, abstracts, documentation, wandering eyes on tests, using homework assignments from a previous semester, turning in previously submitted term papers, using other person's computer accounts to do projects, programs, etc., getting other people to do your assignments, etc. NOTE: I do not mind you discussing the logical solution to problems, but not code, diagrams, or physical solutions of any type.

  This explicitly includes the copying of portions of a book, article, or copying of an authority without explicitly crediting the author. If you are uncertain about how to cite other work properly, please ask me any time and I will give you some examples. In general, look at the research papers we discuss in class, they all cite other people's work. All textual assignments must include work written and conceived by the student, and cannot be simply an amalgamation of quotes from various sources. You may use code you previously created in other classes.

  If you plagiarize any assignment (homework, exams, projects etc), I reserve to right to do any of the following, at my discretion (1) Give you a warning (2) Fail you on the portions I believe you plagiarized (3) Give a zero (or negative points) on the assignment which was plagiarized (4) Fail you for the entire class.

  The University of Idaho bans firearms from its property with only limited exceptions. One exception applies to persons who hold a valid Idaho enhanced concealed carry license, provided those firearms remain concealed at all times. If an enhanced concealed carry license holderŐs firearm is displayed, other than in necessary self-defense, it is a violation of University policy. Please contact local law enforcement (call 911) to report firearms on University property.

• GRADING POLICY:
  • Three exams will be given during the course. Each exam will cover only material presented since the previous exam.

  • Several homework assignments will be given. Each is due during the first 5 minutes of the class on its specified due date. No late works will be accepted. While collaboration on homework is permitted, blatant copying will not be tolerated, i.e. plagiarism guidelines apply! Expect at least one homework assignment to be due during Dead Week.

  • All deadlines are hard deadlines! I will enforce the due date rules strictly.

  • 500 level students will have additional term project(s). The deliverables of the project(s) are due on the day specified. A proposal for a project needs to be submitted at a time to be announced in class. Projects will count for 15% of the course grade.

  • Instructor's discretion may be used in rare instances to raise (but not lower) a borderline final course grade. It will be used only when (in my opinion) a gross statistical aberration has occurred which is so unique and so blatantly obvious that there can be no questions regarding fairness or favoritism.

  • Grading 449: homeworks 25%, each exam 25%.
  • Grading 549: homeworks 25%, each exam 20%, 500-level project 15%.

• EMAIL: Email will only be accepted if it is of personal or sensitive nature. All questions regarding the class or the material are to be raised in class. The reason for this "email restriction" is that the volume of class related emails I received in recent semesters was unmanageable.

  In general, I will NOT accept any electronic submissions, e.g., I will not read attachments, unless I instruct you to send files.

• TEXT BOOK: There are no required text books for this course. We will rely on many research papers and other handouts.
  There are many books on the subject of fault tolerance. Below are some books we have used or referred to in class over the years.
  • Martin L. Shooman, Reliability of computer systems and networks, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2002, ISBN 0-471-29342-3.
  • Anderson, T., and P.A. Lee, Fault-Tolerant Principles and Practices, Prentice-Hall Int'l., London, 1981.
  • Hwang, K., and F.A. Briggs, Computer Architecture and Parallel Processing, McGraw-Hill, 1984.
  • Jalote, P. Fault-Tolerance in Distributed Systems, ISBN 0-13-301367-7, Prentice-Hall, 1994.
  • Johnson, B.W., Design and Analysis of Fault-Tolerant Systems, Addison Wesely, 1989.
  • Leveson, Nancy G., Safeware, system safety and computers, Addison Wesely, 1995.
  • Pradhan, D.K., Fault-Tolerant Computing -- Theory and Techniques, (2 Volumes), Prentice-Hall, 1986.
  • Pradhan, Dhiraj K., Fault-Tolerant Computer System Design, ISBN 0-13-057887-8, Prentice-Hall PTR , 1996.
  • Sahner, R.A., K.S. Trivedi and A. Puliafito, Performance and Reliability Analysis of Computer Systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996.
  • Sieworek, and R.S. Schwarz, The Theory and Practice of Reliable System Design, Digital Press, 1982.
  • Storey, Neil, Safety-Critical Computer Systems, Addison Wesely, 1995.
  • Martin L. Shooman, Reliability of computer systems and networks, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2002, ISBN 0-471-29342-3.
  • Trivedi, K.S., Probability and Statistics with Reliability, Queuing, and Computer Science Applications, Prentice-Hall, 1982.