HPC Cloud for Scientific and Business Applications: Taxonomy, Vision, and Research Challenges

High Performance Computing (HPC) clouds are becoming an alternative to on-premise clusters for executing scientific applications and business analytics services. Most research efforts in HPC cloud aim to understand the cost-benefit of moving resource-intensive applications from on-premise environments to public cloud platforms. Industry trends show hybrid environments are the natural path to get the best of the on-premise and cloud resources---steady (and sensitive) workloads can run on on-premise resources and peak demand can leverage remote resources in a pay-as-you-go manner. Nevertheless, there are plenty of questions to be answered in HPC cloud, which range from how to extract the best performance of an unknown underlying platform to what services are essential to make its usage easier. Moreover, the discussion on the right pricing and contractual models to fit small and large users is relevant for the sustainability of HPC clouds. This paper brings a survey and taxonomy of efforts in HPC cloud and a vision on what we believe is ahead of us, including a set of research challenges that, once tackled, can help advance businesses and scientific discoveries. This becomes particularly relevant due to the fast increasing wave of new HPC applications coming from big data and artificial intelligence.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, Published in ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR

Methods and Applications of Synthetic Data Generation

The advent of data mining and machine learning has highlighted the value of large and varied sources of data, while increasing the demand for synthetic data captures the structural and statistical characteristics of the original data without revealing personal or proprietary information contained in the original dataset. In this dissertation, we use examples from original research to show that, using appropriate models and input parameters, synthetic data that mimics the characteristics of real data can be generated with sufficient rate and quality to address the volume, structural complexity, and statistical variation requirements of research and development of digital information processing systems. First, we present a progression of research studies using a variety of tools to generate synthetic network traffic patterns, enabling us to observe relationships between network latency and communication pattern benchmarks at all levels of the network stack. We then present a framework for synthesizing large scale IoT data with complex structural characteristics in a scalable extraction and synthesis framework, and demonstrate the use of generated data in the benchmarking of IoT middleware. Finally, we detail research on synthetic image generation for deep learning models using 3D modeling. We find that synthetic images can be an effective technique for augmenting limited sets of real training data, and in use cases that benefit from incremental training or model specialization, we find that pretraining on synthetic images provided a usable base model for transfer learning

Elastic computation placement in edge-based environments

Today, technologies such as machine learning, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things are integrated in end-user applications more frequently. These technologies demand high computational capabilities. Especially mobile devices have limited resources in terms of execution performance and battery life. The offloading paradigm provides a solution to this problem and transfers computationally intensive parts of applications to more powerful resources, such as servers or cloud infrastructure. Recently, a new computation paradigm arose which exploits the huge amount of end-user devices in the modern computing landscape - called edge computing. These devices encompass smartphones, tablets, microcontrollers, and PCs. In edge computing, devices cooperate with each other while avoiding cloud infrastructure. Due to the proximity among the participating devices, the communication latencies for offloading are reduced. However, edge computing brings new challenges in form of device fluctuation, unreliability, and heterogeneity, which negatively affect the resource elasticity. As a solution, this thesis proposes a computation placement framework that provides an abstraction for computation and resource elasticity in edge-based environments. The design is middleware-based, encompasses heterogeneous platforms, and supports easy integration of existing applications. It is composed of two parts: the Tasklet system and the edge support layer. The Tasklet system is a flexible framework for computation placement on heterogeneous resources. It introduces closed units of computation that can be tailored to generic applications. The edge support layer handles the characteristics of edge resources. It copes with fluctuation and unreliability by applying reactive and proactive task migration. Furthermore, the performance heterogeneity and the consequent bottlenecks are handled by two edge-specific task partitioning approaches. As a proof of concept, the thesis presents a fully-fledged prototype of the design, which is evaluated comprehensively in a real-world testbed. The evaluation shows that the design is able to substantially improve the resource elasticity in edge-based environments

Technologies and Applications for Big Data Value

This open access book explores cutting-edge solutions and best practices for big data and data-driven AI applications for the data-driven economy. It provides the reader with a basis for understanding how technical issues can be overcome to offer real-world solutions to major industrial areas. The book starts with an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the book by positioning the following chapters in terms of their contributions to technology frameworks which are key elements of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the upcoming Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics. The remainder of the book is then arranged in two parts. The first part “Technologies and Methods” contains horizontal contributions of technologies and methods that enable data value chains to be applied in any sector. The second part “Processes and Applications” details experience reports and lessons from using big data and data-driven approaches in processes and applications. Its chapters are co-authored with industry experts and cover domains including health, law, finance, retail, manufacturing, mobility, and smart cities. Contributions emanate from the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the Big Data Value Association, which have acted as the European data community's nucleus to bring together businesses with leading researchers to harness the value of data to benefit society, business, science, and industry. The book is of interest to two primary audiences, first, undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in various fields, including big data, data science, data engineering, and machine learning and AI. Second, practitioners and industry experts engaged in data-driven systems, software design and deployment projects who are interested in employing these advanced methods to address real-world problems

Technologies and Applications for Big Data Value

This open access book explores cutting-edge solutions and best practices for big data and data-driven AI applications for the data-driven economy. It provides the reader with a basis for understanding how technical issues can be overcome to offer real-world solutions to major industrial areas. The book starts with an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the book by positioning the following chapters in terms of their contributions to technology frameworks which are key elements of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the upcoming Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics. The remainder of the book is then arranged in two parts. The first part “Technologies and Methods” contains horizontal contributions of technologies and methods that enable data value chains to be applied in any sector. The second part “Processes and Applications” details experience reports and lessons from using big data and data-driven approaches in processes and applications. Its chapters are co-authored with industry experts and cover domains including health, law, finance, retail, manufacturing, mobility, and smart cities. Contributions emanate from the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the Big Data Value Association, which have acted as the European data community's nucleus to bring together businesses with leading researchers to harness the value of data to benefit society, business, science, and industry. The book is of interest to two primary audiences, first, undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in various fields, including big data, data science, data engineering, and machine learning and AI. Second, practitioners and industry experts engaged in data-driven systems, software design and deployment projects who are interested in employing these advanced methods to address real-world problems

Elastic Dataflow Processing on the Cloud

Τα νεφη εχουν μετατραπει σε μια ελκυστικη πλατφορμα για την πολυπλοκη επεξεργασια δεδομενων μεγαλης κλιμακας, ειδικα εξαιτιας της εννοιας της ελαστικοτητας, η οποια και τα χαρακτηριζει: οι υπολογιστικοι ποροι μπορουν να εκμισθωθουν δυναμικα και να χρησιμοποιουνται για οσο χρονο ειναι απαραιτητο. Αυτο δινει την δυνατοτητα να δημιουργηθει μια εικονικη υποδομη η οποια μπορει να αλλαζει δυναμικα στο χρονο. Οι συγχρονες εφαρμογες απαιτουν την εκτελεση πολυπλοκων ερωτηματων σε Μεγαλα Δεδομενα για την εξορυξη γνωσης και την υποστηριξη επιχειρησιακων αποφασεων. Τα πολυπλοκα αυτα ερωτηματα, εκφραζονται σε γλωσσες υψηλου επιπεδου και τυπικα μεταφραζονται σε ροες επεξεργασιας δεδομενων, η απλα ροες δεδομενων. Ενα λογικο ερωτημα που τιθεται ειναι κατα ποσον η ελαστικοτητα επηρεαζει την εκτελεση των ροων δεδομενων και με πιο τροπο. Ειναι λογικο οτι η εκτελεση να ειναι πιθανον γρηγοροτερη αν χρησιμοποιηθουν περισ- σοτεροι υπολογιστικοι ποροι, αλλα το κοστος θα ειναι υψηλοτερο. Αυτο δημιουργει την εννοια της οικο-ελαστικοτητας, ενος επιπλεον τυπου ελαστικοτητας ο οποιος προερχεται απο την οικονο- μικη θεωρια, και συλλαμβανει τις εναλλακτικες μεταξυ του χρονου εκτελεσης και του χρηματικου κοστους οπως προκυπτει απο την χρηση των πορων. Στα πλαισια αυτης της διδακτορικης διατριβης, προσεγγιζουμε την ελαστικοτητα με ενα ενοποιημενο μοντελο που περιλαμβανει και τις δυο ειδων ελαστικοτητες που υπαρχουν στα υπολογιστικα νεφη. Αυτη η ενοποιημενη προσεγγιση της ελαστικοτητας ειναι πολυ σημαντικη στην σχεδιαση συστηματων που ρυθμιζονται αυτοματα (auto-tuned) σε περιβαλλοντα νεφους. Αρχικα δειχνουμε οτι η οικο-ελαστικοτητα υπαρχει σε αρκετους τυπους υπολογισμου που εμφανιζονται συχνα στην πραξη και οτι μπορει να βρεθει χρησιμοποιωντας εναν απλο, αλλα ταυτοχρονα αποδοτικο και ε- πεκτασιμο αλγοριθμο. Επειτα, παρουσιαζουμε δυο εφαρμογες που χρησιμοποιουν αλγοριθμους οι οποιοι χρησιμοποιουν το ενοποιημενο μοντελο ελαστικοτητας που προτεινουμε για να μπορουν να προσαρμοζουν δυναμικα το συστημα στα ερωτηματα της εισοδου: 1) την ελαστικη επεξεργασια αναλυτικων ερωτηματων τα οποια εχουν πλανα εκτελεσης με μορφη δεντρων με σκοπο την μεγι- στοποιηση του κερδους και 2) την αυτοματη διαχειριση χρησιμων ευρετηριων λαμβανοντας υποψη το χρηματικο κοστος των υπολογιστικων και των αποθηκευτικων πορων. Τελος, παρουσιαζουμε το EXAREME, ενα συστημα για την ελαστικη επεξεργασια μεγαλου ογκου δεδομενων στο νεφος το οποιο εχει χρησιμοποιηθει και επεκταθει σε αυτην την δουλεια. Το συστημα προσφερει δηλωτικες γλωσσες που βασιζονται στην SQL επεκταμενη με συναρτησεις οι οποιες μπορει να οριστουν απο χρηστες (User-Defined Functions, UDFs). Επιπλεον, το συντακτικο της γλωσσας εχει επεκταθει με στοιχεια παραλληλισμου. Το EXAREME εχει σχεδιαστει για να εκμεταλλευεται τις ελαστικοτη- τες που προσφερουν τα νεφη, δεσμευοντας και αποδεσμευοντας υπολογιστικους πορους δυναμικα με σκοπο την προσαρμογη στα ερωτηματα.Clouds have become an attractive platform for the large-scale processing of modern applications on Big Data, especially due to the concept of elasticity, which characterizes them: resources can be leased on demand and used for as much time as needed, offering the ability to create virtual infrastructures that change dynamically over time. Such applications often require processing of complex queries that are expressed in a high-level language and are typically transformed into data processing flows (dataflows). A logical question that arises is whether elasticity affects dataflow execution and in which way. It seems reasonable that the execution is faster when more resources are used, however the monetary cost is higher. This gives rise to the concept eco-elasticity, an additional kind of elasticity that comes from economics, and captures the trade-offs between the response time of the system and the amount of money we pay for it as influenced by the use of different amounts of resources. In this thesis, we approach the elasticity of clouds in a unified way that combines both the traditional notion and eco-elasticity. This unified elasticity concept is essential for the development of auto-tuned systems in cloud environments. First, we demonstrate that eco-elasticity exists in several common tasks that appear in practice and that can be discovered using a simple, yet highly scalable and efficient algorithm. Next, we present two cases of auto-tuned algorithms that use the unified model of elasticity in order to adapt to the query workload: 1) processing analytical queries in the form of tree execution plans in order to maximize profit and 2) automated index management taking into account compute and storage re- sources. Finally, we describe EXAREME, a system for elastic data processing on the cloud that has been used and extended in this work. The system offers declarative languages that are based on SQL with user-defined functions (UDFs) extended with parallelism primi- tives. EXAREME exploits both elasticities of clouds by dynamically allocating and deallocating compute resources in order to adapt to the query workload

Resource Management in Large-scale Systems

The focus of this thesis is resource management in large-scale systems. Our primary concerns are energy management and practical principles for self-organization and self-management. The main contributions of our work are: 1. Models. We proposed several models for different aspects of resource management, e.g., energy-aware load balancing and application scaling for the cloud ecosystem, hierarchical architecture model for self-organizing and self-manageable systems and a new cloud delivery model based on auction-driven self-organization approach. 2. Algorithms. We also proposed several different algorithms for the models described above. Algorithms such as coalition formation, combinatorial auctions and clustering algorithm for scale-free organizations of scale-free networks. 3. Evaluation. Eventually we conducted different evaluations for the proposed models and algorithms in order to verify them. All the simulations reported in this thesis had been carried out on different instances and services of Amazon Web Services (AWS). All of these modules will be discussed in detail in the following chapters respectively

Proceedings, MSVSCC 2016

Proceedings of the 10th Annual Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Student Capstone Conference held on April 14, 2016 at VMASC in Suffolk, Virginia