System Design Interview

I have some interview appointments from some big companies. Along with the algorithms and problem solving that I'm brushing up on, I'm also looking at system design materials. But I'm still green on this area and there are a lot of topics to be covered, any suggestions of what topics or materials should I focused on? What makes a successful system design interviews, especially for the ones that has little or no experience like me? Would one still be hired if he had a bad system design interview? Also is there any apps, tools, about distributed systems that I can get my hands dirty and start implementing one for experience, or any virtual tools for distributed systems? Buying multiple servers for fun aint cheap for a person like me but on the other hand I want to put something on my resume and my skillset to show companies that I have some experience. I apologize if some of my questions are vague and and hopefully with more discussions I can respond with better questions / answers.