Large Systems

6 EC

Semester 1, period 2

5384LASY6Y

Owner Master Security and Network Engineering
Coordinator Shashikant Ilager
Part of Master Security and Network Engineering, year 1
Links Visible Learning Trajectories

Course manual 2025/2026

Objectives

  • The student can explain the architecture and design principles behind distributed systems
  • The student can explain various virtualization technologies and their implications in large systems, including hardware, software, and network virtualization
  • The student can manage virtual environments to optimize resource utilization
  • The student can demonstrate the practical application of Infrastructure as Code by using state-of-practice tools to provision and manage infrastructure
  • The student can analyze distributed systems wrt to consistency, fault tolerance and failures

Teaching methods

  • Seminar
  • Lecture
  • Computer lab session/practical training
  • Self-study
  • Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis

Learning activities

Activity

Number of hours

Lecture

28

Workshop

45

Seminar

2

Exam

2

Self-study

90

Attendance

  • Some course components require compulsory attendance. If compulsory attendance applies, this will be indicated in the Course Catalogue which can be consulted via the UvA-website. The rationale for and implementation of this compulsory attendance may vary per course and, if applicable, is included in the Course Manual.

    • Additional requirements for this course:

    equirements of the programme concerning attendance (TER-B):

    1. All parts and activities of the curriculum are obligatory (presence and participation). This includes lectures, seminars, practical work, colloquia and site visits.
    2. Exemptions for activities have to be granted in advance by the examiner.
    3. If no exemption has been granted and the conditions as stated in paragraph 1 were not met, the component has to be taken again.

    Assessment

    Item and weight Details

    Final grade

    80%

    Tentamen

    		Mandatory

    20%

    Group project

    		Mandatory

    Lab assignments

    		Must be ≥ pass

    Assignments

    There will be four assignments to be conducted in 6 weeks. 

    1) Virtualization/VM Migration

    2) Infrastructure as code

    3) Kubernetes and automation

    4) Public cloud/AWS

    Fraud and plagiarism

    The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

    Course structure

    Week number Topics Study material
    1

    Course Intro & Distribution Intro & Virtualization

    		  
    2

    Virtualization

    		  
    3

    Communication & Coordination,

    Replication & Partitioning

    		  
    4

    Fault Tolerance,

    Admin: Servers, Desktops, Data Centers

    		  
    5

    Cloud Computing Intro, Cloud Application Development and Management,

    		  
    6

    [Guest lecture]: TBC

    		  
    7 [Guest lecture]: TBC  
    8

    Recap and Summary, Exam

    		  

    Contact information

    Coordinator

    • Shashikant Ilager

    Coordinator:  dr, Shashikant Ilager

                      TA-1: Paul Daniëlse
                      TA-2: Jelle van Dijk