CIS332 (Fall 1998) Principles of Operating Systems; 
Professor Franz J. Kurfess

 
1. In a distributed system, it is very important to know the
   status of the individual nodes and links. Is it possible
   for one node to decide if 
   - another node is down,
   - the link to that node is down, or
   - the other node doesn't respond immediately because it is
     overloaded?
   Explain your answer! (4 points)
















2. In a distributed file system, copies of frequently used files
   can be kept in a local cache, instead of on the server.
   What are potential problems with these local copies? (3 points)















3. Many modern operating systems rely on threads for the realization
   of distributed services .What are the advantages of using threads 
   in a distributed system? (3 points)