With proliferation of computer networks and advancements in communication and networking technologies enterprises have moved from centralised ways of storing, manipulating, processing and querying data to distributed ones. Mid-nineties saw an enormous growth of the Internet, web and distributed computing. This subject had reflected that phenomenon and addressed major design, management, processing issues in distributed database systems.

This unit had no description before.

This subject is offered in a number of postgraduate degrees as well as in the BComp Honours. This subject extends student knowledge and practical skills in the area of distributed databases and makes the students better prepared for employment in companies and enterprises where distributed data is a way of operation. This subject is unique in a sense that it offers an insight into designing, managing and running distributed database systems. Popular industry product Oracle RDBMS is used as a testbed environment.

This unit addresses advanced issues of distributed database systems, reflects the state-of-the-art in the area, is very much relevant to industry demands and is likely to be popular among students for quite some time to come.

Distributed databases including data model partioning, fragmentation, replication issues, query optimisation, concurrency control, restart and recovery, transaction management, distributed design, communcation models, client-server and peer-to-peer products.

Oszu, T. and Valduriez, P. Principles of Distributed Database Systems, 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall, 1999

Written (3000 words): 40% + practical work: 40% + presentation: 20%

One high-tech lecture theatre for 2 hrs per week

None (only lectures and labs required)

One 2hr lab per week.

Software required:

• Software Title:
• Vendor:
• Version:
• OS: MS Windows XP ( ) and/or LINUX ( )
• License Details: (A valid software license certificate/s or Vendor permission must be available upon request if the software is to be installed for teaching)
• Are we currently licensed: Yes ( ) or No ( ) (If unsure, please check with your local IT support )
• If (Yes), who is the contact person for this software?:
• If (No), will the software license be arranged by: Staff member requesting the software ( ) or Technical Services* ( ) ? *If the latter is selected, please discuss your requirement/s with myself ASAP, prior to finalising your request, as there could be financial or resourcing implications.
• Is the software to be installed and accessed from a: Client/Workstation ( ), or Server ( ) ?
• Type of license: Site License ( ), Freeware ( ), FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) ( ), Shareware ( ), Lab based ( ) # of Licenses needed ____
• In what week will you commence using the software in class? Semester 1 (Week ___ ) and/or Semester 2 (Week ___ ):
• Nominated Staff For Acceptance Testing Software: (Name) (Phone) (Email)
• Additional Information: Special Requirements, Software Configuration/Installation Requirements, etc:

No prerequisites. However, basic background in database systems, SQL and Java programming would be helpful and useful.