Welcome to EECS 395/495 Networking Problems in Cloud Computing

What is this class about? Goal: to help you learn how to do the networking research –Read research papers –Argue and convey your ideas –Execute a research project –Write a research paper –Test your ability to generate research ideas –Learn about hot topics in networking problems in cloud computing

Typical Path Pick a research topic Learn as much as you can about the topic (read papers) Generate a research idea (something that nobody else did before) Execute your idea (e.g., modeling, simulations, implementation, measurements) Write a paper and submit to a conference/journal Present the paper at a conference

Typical Problems You may know a topic that you are interested in Yet, you don’t know the related work It is sometimes hard to generate an idea, even if you know the related work By the time you come up with an idea, several quarters may pass (it took me 2 years!)

How to do it all? Projects: –You should come up with a research project You can consult with my PhD, MS, and undergraduate students about ongoing projects, or come up with your own ideas –The goal is to generate quality networking research and potentially submit the best work to networking conferences Classes: –Discuss topics related to networking problems in cloud computing (e.g., existing applications, datacenter architectures, security, performance, incast, energy efficiency, geo-distributed cloud services, etc.) –Learn how to read papers

What do I expect from you: This is not an ordinary class –This is a reality show! I’ll treat you as my PhD students I’ll expect you to behave as my PhD students: –Independent –Self-motivated –Hard-working

Overview Administrative stuff Classes: –Reading papers –Paper reviews –Presentations/debating –Project topics Projects: –Topics presentations will happen on Wednesday 3/31; make sure you are present!

Seminar class: paper reading + a big project –Each class a new paper –More on the class structure later Course Overview

Teaching Stuff Aleksandar Kuzmanovic Office Hours: by appointment TA: no TA; Ionut Trestian will be the class

Prerequisites and Course Materials Required: CS340 (Intro to computer networking) Highly Recommended: OS or having some familiarity with Unix systems programming No required textbook – paper reading! Recommended –Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet, [KR], Second Edition, James Kurose and Keith RossComputer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet

Grading No exams for this class Class: 50% –Paper reading summary 15% –In class paper presentation and debating 20% –Class participation and discussion (when you are not directly debating) 15% Project 50% –Proposal 5% (up to 1 page) –Midterm report 5% (up to 5 pages) –Weekly report and meeting 10% –Project presentation 10% –Final report, 10 pages, 20%

Communication and Policies Web page: es/EECS395-s10/ es/EECS395-s10/ Group Send s to the instructor for questions inappropriate in newsgroup Paper reading summary is due by 2PM on Mon and Wed –Send it to me –You can miss one paper summary without any consequences

Overview Administrative stuff Classes: –Topics –Paper readings and reviews –Presentations/debating –Research ideas Projects: –Topics

I tried to pick interesting papers (breadth vs. depth) –Real-world cloud computing infrastructures (Google cluster architecture, Amazon, Yahoo) –Data center architectures –Cloud security –Performance (fingerprinting, failure trends, etc) –Incast throughput collapse problem –Energy efficiency –Future data center architectures Course Topics

Reading papers Why read? Decide what to read Reading for breadth: build a framework Reading in depth: Challenge what you read –if you will lead a debate

Reviews Should… –Point out the paper's contributions, strengths as well as weaknesses. Think in terms of what makes good research? What qualities make a good paper? What are the potential future impacts of the work? Note that there is no right or wrong answer to these questions A review's quality will mainly depend on its thoughtfulness. Restating the abstract/conclusion of the paper will not earn a top grade.

Writing Reviews (2) Write a very brief summary of each paper, to be ed to me before the class (.txt please) Summary should include: –Paper title and its author(s) –A short paragraph summary (what is this paper about?) –A paragraph of the most significant new insight(s) you took away from the paper (what is good? what is the contribution?) –A paragraph of the one or two most significant flaw(s) of the paper (what is bad?) –Explain what reference would you read next and why –Give a grade to the paper (1-5) (excluding 3!)

Overview Administrative stuff Classes: –Topics –Paper readings and reviews –Presentations/debating –Research idea Projects: –Topics

Defense (1) 30 minutes; should present as if it were his/her own The point is to make a compelling case why the contribution is significant. the context of the contribution, prior work, –If an older paper: how the work has influenced the research community or industry's directions (impact) –If newer paper: arguments for the potential impact

Defense (2) –should go well beyond a paper "summary“ –The defense should not critique the work other than to try to pre-empt attacks from the offense (e.g., by explicitly limiting the scope of the contribution). –The defense should also try to look up related work to support their case

Offense (1) 20 minutes; Should critique the work, and make a case for –missing links, unaddressed issues, lack of impact, inappropriateness of the problem formulation, etc. The more insightful and less obvious the criticisms the better While the offense should prepare remarks in advance, they should also react to the points made by the defense. Hint: The offense should also try to look up related work to support their case

Offense (2) The defense and offense will be allowed follow up arguments, The class will question either side either for clarifications or to add to the discussions and controversy and make their own points on either side. Use Powerpoint (feel free to use existing presentations from the Web)

Overview Administrative stuff Classes: –Topics –Paper readings and reviews –Presentations/debating –Research ideas (optional!) Projects: –presentations will happen on Wednesday 3/31; make sure you are present!

Research Idea (1) At the end of semester, you should hand in a research proposal Up to 3 pages including references Something that nobody else did before –What would you do? –How would you do it?

Research idea (2) Writing the research-idea documents: –What is the main idea? –Why is it important/interesting? –What is the related work? –What would you actually do? How would you execute the idea: –Modeling, simulations, experiments? –What is the expected outcome?

Overview Administrative stuff Classes: –Topics –Paper readings and reviews –Presentations/debating –Research idea Projects: –presentations will happen on Wednesday 3/31; make sure you are present!

Timetable Week 2 (Wednesday 4/7) Find a partner, choose a topic for your project, and meet with the project leader. Week 3 (Monday 4/12) Write an introduction describing the problem and how you plan to approach it (what will you actually do?). Include motivation (why does the problem matter?) and related work (what have others already done about it?). 3 pages total. Week 6 (Wednesday 5/3) Update your paper to include your preliminary results. 5 pages total. Midterm presentations. Week 10 (Wednesday 6/2) Final presentations by all groups. Week 11 (Friday 6/11) Turn in your completed paper. 10 pages total.