Distributed Software Engineering Case study Questions
Middleware and Remote Procedure Calls
Scenario:
A company is developing a distributed e-commerce platform where users can browse products,
make purchases, and track deliveries. The platform involves multiple components running on
different servers:
A product catalog service
A payment service
A delivery tracking service
Question:
Explain how middleware facilitates communication between these services using remote
procedure calls (RPC). What challenges might arise from this approach?
Answer:
Middleware acts as an intermediary that manages the interaction between the components in a
distributed system. In the case of RPC:
1. The e-commerce platform calls a method on the middleware, simulating a local
procedure call.
2. The middleware identifies the remote service (e.g., payment or delivery tracking) and
forwards the call.
3. Middleware converts the parameters into a standard format, sends them to the target
service, and retrieves the result.
4. It translates the result back into a format understandable by the calling component.
Challenges:
Synchronous communication: Both the caller and callee must be available
simultaneously.
Latency issues: Network delays can degrade performance.
Error handling: Failures in one service can propagate and disrupt other services.
Question 2: Evaluating Security in Distributed Systems
Scenario:
An online education platform is designed as a distributed system with features like video
streaming, real-time quizzes, and user account management.
Question:
Identify three types of security threats that this distributed system might face and propose
solutions for each.
Answer:
Threats and Solutions:
1. Interception (Loss of confidentiality): Attackers intercept video streams or user
credentials.
o Solution: Use end-to-end encryption (e.g., TLS) for all communications.
2. Denial of Service (DoS): Attackers flood the servers with requests, disrupting services.
o Solution: Implement rate-limiting and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
protection mechanisms.
3. Fabrication (Fake data creation): Attackers create fake quiz results or user accounts.
o Solution: Enforce authentication mechanisms (e.g., two-factor authentication) and
validate input data rigorously.
Question 3: Architectural Model Recommendation
Scenario:
A startup is developing a financial analytics platform that requires real-time updates from
multiple sources, high scalability, and intensive data processing.
Question:
Recommend a suitable client-server architecture and justify your choice.
Answer:
Recommendation: Multi-tier client-server architecture.
Justification:
Real-time updates: Separate layers for data management and application processing
allow better handling of real-time data.
Scalability: Multi-tier models can scale horizontally by adding servers to handle
increased client demand.
Intensive data processing: The architecture supports distributed processing across
layers, optimizing performance
Question 4: Fault Tolerance in Distributed Systems
Scenario:
A distributed healthcare system manages patient records across multiple hospitals. Each hospital
must continue functioning independently in case of a network failure.
Question:
Describe how the system can be designed to handle failures while ensuring data consistency
across all hospitals.
Answer:
Design Approach:
1. Replication: Use data replication to store copies of patient records at each hospital.
2. Consensus Algorithms: Implement algorithms like Paxos or Raft to ensure data
consistency during updates.
3. Eventual Consistency: Adopt an eventual consistency model to reconcile records when
the network is restored.
4. Failure Detection: Include heartbeat mechanisms to detect and manage network
partitions or node failures.
5. Local Processing: Allow hospitals to operate on local copies of the data during outages,
synchronizing changes afterward.
Question 5: Peer-to-Peer Architecture in Business Use
Scenario:
A music streaming company wants to leverage peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture to reduce server
costs while ensuring users can share music with each other seamlessly.
Question:
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using a decentralized P2P architecture for this
application.
Answer:
Advantages:
1. Reduced Server Load: Offloading file sharing to user devices reduces central server
dependency.
2. Scalability: Performance improves as more peers join the network.
Disadvantages:
1. Quality Control: Ensuring high-quality music files is harder due to decentralized
sharing.
2. Security Risks: Peers may introduce malicious content or compromise data privacy.
Question 6: SaaS Implementation Challenges
Scenario:
A small business adopts a Software as a Service (SaaS) model for its inventory management
system. The SaaS solution is hosted on a remote server accessed via a web browser.
Question:
What are three challenges the business might face in using SaaS, and how can they be mitigated?
Answer:
Challenges and Mitigations:
1. Data Security: Sensitive inventory data is stored offsite.
o Mitigation: Choose a SaaS provider with strong encryption and compliance with
standards like ISO 27001.
2. Downtime Risks: Service availability depends on the SaaS provider.
o Mitigation: Ensure the provider offers a robust SLA with uptime guarantees.
3. Limited Customization: SaaS solutions may not fully meet specific business needs.
o Mitigation: Work with the provider to customize features or explore configurable
options.
Question 7: Scalability in Distributed Systems
Scenario:
A video streaming platform needs to support millions of users simultaneously while maintaining
consistent video quality.
Question:
What scalability techniques can be applied to meet this requirement?
Answer:
Techniques:
1. Load Balancing: Distribute user requests across multiple servers to prevent overload.
2. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Cache video content closer to users for faster
delivery.
3. Horizontal Scaling: Add more servers to handle increasing traffic.
4. Microservices Architecture: Design the platform as independent services for modular
scaling.
Question 8: Transparency in Distributed Systems
Scenario:
A global travel booking system uses a distributed architecture to provide flight, hotel, and car
rental options.
Question:
Explain how transparency can enhance user experience and identify challenges in achieving it.
Answer:
Transparency Enhancements:
1. Location Transparency: Users should not need to know where the data (e.g., flight
availability) is stored.
2. Access Transparency: Users should seamlessly access services without manual
configuration.
Challenges:
1. Network Latency: Variations in response times might make the system seem
inconsistent.
2. Data Synchronization: Ensuring real-time consistency across distributed components
