Distributed Systems: Definition and Characteristics - Interactive Learning Quiz

Question 1

Define the fundamental characteristic that distinguishes distributed systems from other computer systems.

Accepted Answer

Transparency of distribution

Answer

Homogeneity of components

Answer

Concurrency of tasks

Answer

Scalability to large sizes

Question 2

Which of the following is not typically considered a challenge associated with distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Centralized administration and management

Answer

Managing concurrent access to shared data

Answer

Ensuring data consistency across multiple nodes

Answer

Providing fault tolerance in the face of failures

Question 3

Distinguish between distributed and parallel systems based on their key difference.

Accepted Answer

Distribution of tasks across multiple computers

Answer

Synchronization of tasks to achieve a common goal

Answer

Use of shared memory for communication

Answer

Inherent fault tolerance mechanisms

Question 4

Name a common architectural style used in distributed systems, characterized by independent nodes communicating with each other directly.

Accepted Answer

Peer-to-peer

Answer

Client-server

Answer

Cluster-based

Answer

Cloud-based

Question 5

Describe the primary function of a distributed transaction coordinator in a distributed system.

Accepted Answer

Maintaining data consistency and integrity

Answer

Handling concurrency control and synchronization

Answer

Providing fault tolerance mechanisms

Answer

Optimizing communication between nodes

Question 6

In distributed systems, what are the primary challenges in ensuring fault tolerance, and how can we effectively overcome these challenges?

Accepted Answer

Data Consistency and Partition Handling

Answer

Concurrency and Deadlock Management

Answer

Performance Optimization and Scalability

Answer

Security and Authentication

Question 7

Which of the following is a key characteristic of distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Autonomous components interacting via message passing

Answer

Tightly coupled components

Answer

Single point of failure

Answer

Centralized control

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a challenge associated with distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Easy system administration

Answer

Ensuring data consistency

Answer

Handling network latency and unreliability

Answer

Achieving scalability and load balancing

Question 9

What is the primary purpose of a distributed file system?

Accepted Answer

To enable concurrent access to data by multiple users

Answer

To provide a centralized location for storing data

Answer

To guarantee data consistency and integrity

Answer

To encrypt data for increased security

Question 10

Which of the following is a popular distributed consensus algorithm?

Accepted Answer

Paxos

Answer

Round-robin scheduling

Answer

Quicksort

Answer

Binary search

Question 11

What is the fundamental difference between client-server and peer-to-peer architectures in distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Client-server involves a central server, while peer-to-peer does not.

Answer

Peer-to-peer involves a central server, while client-server does not.

Answer

Both client-server and peer-to-peer architectures use a central server.

Answer

Neither client-server nor peer-to-peer architectures use a central server.

Question 12

What is a primary responsibility of a distributed transaction manager?

Accepted Answer

Ensuring atomic execution of distributed transactions

Answer

Managing data flow and communication between nodes

Answer

Providing security for distributed transactions

Answer

Handling concurrency control

Question 13

Which of the following is not a defining characteristic of a distributed system?

Accepted Answer

Centralization

Answer

Concurrency

Answer

Transparency

Answer

Scalability

Question 14

What term describes a distributed system's ability to continue operating despite component failures?

Accepted Answer

Fault tolerance

Answer

Availability

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Reliability

Question 15

What is the primary purpose of middleware in a distributed system?

Accepted Answer

To provide a communication and coordination platform

Answer

To optimize performance

Answer

To enhance security

Answer

To simplify development

Question 16

What is the primary reason for using distributed transactions in distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

To maintain data integrity across multiple operations

Answer

To improve performance

Answer

To reduce complexity

Answer

To enhance fault tolerance

Question 17

Which of the following is not a key performance metric for distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Usability

Answer

Throughput

Answer

Latency

Answer

Availability

Question 18

What is the overarching goal of distributed system management?

Accepted Answer

Any of the above

Answer

To monitor and control the system

Answer

To identify and resolve failures

Answer

To optimize performance

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT a key characteristic of distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Shared memory

Answer

Concurrency

Answer

Transparency

Answer

Scalability

Question 20

Which component of a distributed system is responsible for coordinating distributed transactions?

Accepted Answer

Transaction manager

Answer

Message broker

Answer

Consistency manager

Answer

Load balancer

Question 21

What is a key feature of a distributed hash table (DHT)?

Accepted Answer

Efficient lookup and storage of data across distributed nodes

Answer

Guaranteed data consistency

Answer

Centralized control of data

Answer

Real-time data synchronization

Question 22

What is the main difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication in distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Blocking vs. non-blocking

Answer

Guaranteed vs. best-effort delivery

Answer

Ordered vs. unordered messages

Answer

Reliable vs. unreliable transmission

Question 23

Define a distributed system.

Accepted Answer

A collection of independent components spread across multiple physical locations, communicating and coordinating their actions to achieve a common goal.

Answer

A system operating on a single, centralized computer, handling all processing and data storage.

Answer

A system designed solely to process data originating from within itself, without external interactions or data sharing.

Answer

A system that operates in isolation, with no connections to other systems or networks.

Question 24

Identify the characteristic that is NOT associated with distributed systems:

Accepted Answer

Centralized control: A single entity having complete authority over all system components and data.

Answer

Concurrency: Multiple components executing concurrently, potentially interacting with shared resources.

Answer

Transparency: Hiding the distributed nature of the system from users, presenting a unified view.

Answer

Fault tolerance: Ability to continue operating and providing services despite failures of individual components.

Question 25

Which type of distributed system architecture is NOT commonly used?

Accepted Answer

Centralized: All processing and data management handled by a single, central node.

Answer

Client-server: A central server providing services to multiple clients.

Answer

Peer-to-peer: Components interacting directly with each other without a central authority.

Answer

Clustered: Multiple interconnected computers working together as a single system.

Question 26

Which of these is a popular distributed messaging system?

Accepted Answer

Apache Kafka: A high-throughput, low-latency messaging platform for real-time data processing.

Answer

Redis: An in-memory data structure store, often used as a distributed cache or database.

Answer

MongoDB: A document-oriented database system, suitable for storing and managing large volumes of data.

Answer

Hadoop: A framework for distributed data processing and storage, primarily used for big data analytics.

Question 27

Which characteristic is a key feature of distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Transparency

Answer

Centralized data storage

Answer

Tightly coupled components

Answer

Guaranteed consistency

Question 28

What is a defining characteristic of a distributed system?

Accepted Answer

Loosely coupled components

Answer

Centralized control

Answer

Homogeneous components

Answer

Real-time performance

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Centralized control

Answer

Transparency

Answer

Concurrency

Answer

Modularity

Question 30

A common challenge associated with distributed systems is:

Accepted Answer

Maintaining data consistency

Answer

Achieving high performance

Answer

Managing resource allocation

Question 31

The primary purpose of a distributed hash table (DHT) in a distributed system is to:

Accepted Answer

Provide a decentralized mechanism for storing and retrieving data

Answer

Handle communication and coordination among system components

Answer

Ensure data replication and fault tolerance

Question 32

Which consistency model in distributed systems guarantees that every read operation retrieves the most up-to-date data?

Accepted Answer

Linearizability

Answer

Strict consistency

Answer

Eventual consistency

Answer

Causal consistency

Question 33

A distributed system that can continue operating despite component failures is referred to as:

Accepted Answer

Fault-tolerant

Answer

Scalable

Answer

Secure

Answer

Reliable

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT a type of distributed system architecture?

Accepted Answer

Centralized

Answer

Peer-to-peer

Answer

Client-server

Question 35

Define a distributed system.

Accepted Answer

A collection of autonomous computers connected over a network that appears as a single, coherent system to users.

Answer

A system where all components are physically co-located and share the same memory and resources,

Answer

A single computer with multiple processors that operates as a unified system.

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Centralized control

Answer

Concurrency

Answer

Fault tolerance

Answer

Transparency

Question 37

Explain concurrency in distributed systems.

Accepted Answer

The ability for multiple processes or activities to execute concurrently on different nodes in a distributed system without interfering with each other.

Answer

The ability for a single process to execute on multiple nodes simultaneously in a distributed system.

Answer

The ability to maintain a consistent global state across all nodes in a distributed system.

Question 38

Describe fault tolerance in distributed systems.

Accepted Answer

The ability of a distributed system to continue operating and providing services even in the presence of failures in individual nodes or components.

Answer

The ability of a distributed system to resist all types of failures, including hardware failures, software bugs, and network outages.

Answer

The ability of a distributed system to automatically recover from all failures without human intervention.

Question 39

Explain transparency in distributed systems.

Accepted Answer

The property of a distributed system that makes it appear as a single, coherent system to users and applications, regardless of the underlying complexity and distribution of its components.

Answer

The ability of a distributed system to provide the same level of transparency to all types of users and applications.

Answer

The ability of a distributed system to completely hide the distribution of its components from users and applications.

Answer

The ability of a distributed system to hide its performance characteristics, such as latency and throughput, from users and applications.

Question 40

Identify a key benefit of distributed systems.

Accepted Answer

Scalability

Answer

High latency

Answer

Centralized control

Answer

Lack of fault tolerance

Question 41

Discuss a common challenge in designing distributed systems.

Accepted Answer

Ensuring consistent global state

Answer

Keeping costs low

Answer

Developing systems with ease

Answer

Achieving high performance

Question 42

Provide an example of a distributed system.

Accepted Answer

The World Wide Web

Answer

A single-user database

Answer

A monolithic application running on a single server

Answer

A personal computer with multiple cores

Question 43

What is the primary purpose of distributed system middleware?

Accepted Answer

To provide common services and abstractions that simplify the development and deployment of distributed applications, such as communication, coordination, and resource management.

Answer

To enforce security policies and protect distributed systems from unauthorized access.

Answer

To manage the underlying network infrastructure, such as routers and switches.

Question 44

Which concept is fundamental to distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Location transparency

Answer

Data locality

Answer

Centralized control

Answer

Time consistency

Question 45

Which of the following accurately defines a distributed system?

Accepted Answer

A collection of loosely coupled computers that interact and cooperate to achieve a common goal through message passing.

Answer

A system that utilizes multiple processors to execute tasks simultaneously.

Answer

A system that is geographically dispersed across multiple locations.

Question 46

Which characteristic is NOT associated with distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Centralized decision-making.

Answer

Concurrency.

Answer

Transparency.

Answer

Modularity.

Question 47

Which of the following is a significant advantage of using distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Increased scalability to accommodate growing workloads.

Answer

Reduced complexity in system maintenance.

Answer

Lower cost of implementation and operation.

Answer

Enhanced performance due to centralized control.

Question 48

Which concept is crucial for ensuring fault tolerance in distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Replication of critical system components.

Answer

Load balancing to distribute workload.

Answer

Caching of frequently accessed data.

Answer

Synchronization of concurrent processes.

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT a defining characteristic of a distributed system?

Accepted Answer

Centralized control

Answer

Resource sharing

Answer

Independent failure

Answer

Concurrency

Question 50

What is the primary advantage of using a distributed system over a centralized system?

Accepted Answer

Improved fault tolerance and availability

Answer

Reduced communication overhead

Answer

Simplified management and maintenance

Answer

Enhanced security

Question 51

Which of the following is a challenge associated with distributed systems?

Accepted Answer

Data consistency and synchronization

Answer

Simplified deployment and configuration

Answer

Increased security

Answer

Reduced development costs

Question 52

In a distributed system, the ability of individual components to fail without affecting the overall system functionality is referred to as:

Accepted Answer

Fault tolerance

Answer

Transparency

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Concurrency

Question 53

Which of the following is NOT a key aspect of ensuring data consistency in a distributed system?

Accepted Answer

Centralized data storage

Answer

Conflict resolution mechanisms

Answer

Replication strategies

Answer

Transaction management

Question 54

A distributed system where a central server manages resources and provides services to multiple clients is known as a:

Accepted Answer

Client-server system

Answer

Cloud-based system

Answer

Decentralized system

Answer

Peer-to-peer system

Question 55

The ability of a distributed system to handle increasing workloads and user demands is known as:

Accepted Answer

Scalability

Answer

Concurrency

Answer

Fault tolerance

Answer

Transparency

Question 56

Which of the following is NOT a common approach for handling concurrency in a distributed system?

Accepted Answer

Sequential processing

Answer

Optimistic concurrency control

Answer

Locking mechanisms

Answer

Message queuing

Question 57

In a distributed system, the ability to hide the complexity of the underlying infrastructure from users is referred to as:

Accepted Answer

Transparency

Answer

Scalability

Answer

Fault tolerance

Answer

Concurrency