This assignment is designed to reinforce your understanding of the principles of distributed systems including their architecture, communication mechanisms, synchronization, consistency, and fault tolerance.

Part $1$: Architecture of Distributed Systems $(20$ points$)$

$1.$ Question $1$: $(10$ points$)$ Describe the key characteristics of a distributed system. Why is transparency an important aspect?

$2.$ Question $2$: $(10$ points$)$ Explain the difference between client$-$server architecture and peer$-$to$-$peer architecture in distributed systems.

Part $2$: Communication in Distributed Systems $(20$ points$)$

$3.$ Question $3$: $(10$ points$)$ What is RPC $($Remote Procedure Call$)?$ How does it facilitate communication in distributed systems?

$4.$ Question $4$: $(10$ points$)$ Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using message$-$oriented communication in distributed systems.

Part $3$: Synchronization $(20$ points$)$

$5.$ Question $5$: $(10$ points$)$ What is clock synchronization in distributed systems? Explain the difference between physical clocks and logical clocks.

$6.$ Question $6$: $(10$ points$)$ Describe the concept of mutual exclusion in distributed systems and provide an example of how it can be implemented.

Part $4$: Consistency and Replication $(20$ points$)$

$7.$ Question $7$: $(10$ points$)$ Define data consistency in the context of distributed systems. What are the different consistency models?

$8.$ Question $8$: $(10$ points$)$ Explain the concept of replication in distributed systems and discuss one technique used to achieve data consistency in replicated systems.

Part $5$: Fault Tolerance $(20$ points$)$

$9.$ Question $9$: $(10$ points$)$ What is fault tolerance in distributed systems? Why is it crucial for such systems?

$10.$ Question $10$: $(10$ points$)$ Describe the role of redundancy in achieving fault tolerance. Provide an example of a fault$-$tolerant system.