14 research outputs found
The Scalability of Multicast Communication
Multicast is a communication method which operates on groups of applications. Having multiple instances of an application which are addressed collectively using a unique, multicast address, allows elegant solutions to some of the more intractable problems in distributed programming, such as providing fault tolerance. However, as multicast techniques are applied in areas such as distributed operating systems, where the operating system may span a large number of hosts, or on faster network architectures, where the problems of congestion reduce the effectiveness of the technique, then the scalability of multicast must be addressed if multicast is to gain a wider application. The main scalability issue was considered to be packet loss due to buffer overrun, the most common cause of this buffer overrun being the mismatch in packet arrival rate and packet consumption at the multicast originator, the so-called implosion problem. This issue affects positively acknowledged and transactional protocols. As these two techniques are the most common protocol designs, it was felt that an investigation into the problems of these types of protocol would be most effective. A model for implosion was developed which was simulated in order to investigate the parameters of implosion. A measure of this implosion was derived from the data, this index of implosion allowing the severity of implosion to be described as well as the location of the implosion in the model. This implosion index was derived by dividing the rate at which buffers were occupied by the rate at which packets were generated by the model. The value may then be used to predict the number of buffers required given the number of packets expected. A number of techniques were developed which may be used to offset implosion, either by artificially increasing the inter-packet gap, or by distributing replies so that no one host receives enough packets to cause an implosion. Of these alternatives, the latter offers the most promise, although requiring a large effort to maintain the resulting hierarchical structure in the presence of multiple failures
Partial replication in the database state machine
Tese de Doutoramento em Informática - Ramo do Conhecimento em Tecnologias da ProgramaçãoEnterprise information systems are nowadays commonly structured as multi-tier
architectures and invariably built on top of database management systems responsible
for the storage and provision of the entire business data. Database management
systems therefore play a vital role in today’s organizations, from their reliability
and availability directly depends the overall system dependability.
Replication is a well known technique to improve dependability. By maintaining
consistent replicas of a database one can increase its fault tolerance and simultaneously
improve system’s performance by splitting the workload among the
replicas.
In this thesis we address these issues by exploiting the partial replication of databases.
We target large scale systems where replicas are distributed across wide
area networks aiming at both fault tolerance and fast local access to data. In particular,
we envision information systems of multinational organizations presenting
strong access locality in which fully replicated data should be kept to a minimum
and a judicious placement of replicas should be able to allow the full recovery of
any site in case of failure.
Our research departs from work on database replication algorithms based on group
communication protocols, in detail, multi-master certification-based protocols. At
the core of these protocols resides a total order multicast primitive responsible for
establishing a total order of transaction execution.
A well known performance optimization in local area networks exploits the fact
that often the definitive total order of messages closely following the spontaneous
network order, thus making it possible to optimistically proceed in parallel with
the ordering protocol. Unfortunately, this optimization is invalidated in wide area
networks, precisely when the increased latency would make it more useful. To
overcome this we present a novel total order protocol with optimistic delivery for
wide area networks. Our protocol uses local statistic estimates to independently
order messages closely matching the definitive one thus allowing optimistic execution
in real wide area networks.
Handling partial replication within a certification based protocol is also particularly
challenging as it directly impacts the certification procedure itself. Depending
on the approach, the added complexity may actually defeat the purpose
of partial replication. We devise, implement and evaluate two variations of the
Database State Machine protocol discussing their benefits and adequacy with the
workload of the standard TPC-C benchmark.Os sistemas de informação empresariais actuais estruturam-se normalmente em
arquitecturas de software multi-nível, e apoiam-se invariavelmente sobre um sistema
de gestão de bases de dados para o armazenamento e aprovisionamento de
todos os dados do negócio. A base de dado desempenha assim um papel vital,
sendo a confiabilidade do sistema directamente dependente da sua fiabilidade e
disponibilidade.
A replicação é uma das formas de melhorar a confiabilidade. Garantindo a coerência
de um conjunto de réplicas da base de dados, é possível aumentar simultaneamente
a sua tolerância a faltas e o seu desempenho, ao distribuir as tarefas a
realizar pelas várias réplicas não sobrecarregando apenas uma delas.
Nesta tese, propomos soluções para estes problemas utilizando a replicação parcial
das bases de dados. Nos sistemas considerados, as réplicas encontram-se
distribuídas numa rede de larga escala, almejando-se simultaneamente obter tolerância
a faltas e garantir um acesso local rápido aos dados. Os sistemas propostos
têm como objectivo adequarem-se às exigências dos sistemas de informação de
multinacionais em que em cada réplica existe uma elevada localidade dos dados
acedidos. Nestes sistemas, os dados replicados em todas as réplicas devem ser
apenas os absolutamente indispensáveis, e a selecção criteriosa dos dados a colocar
em cada réplica, deve permitir em caso de falha a reconstrução completa da
base de dados.
Esta investigação tem como ponto de partida os protocolos de replicação de bases
de dados utilizando comunicação em grupo, em particular os baseados em certificação
e execução optimista por parte de qualquer uma das réplicas. O mecanismo
fundamental deste tipo de protocolos de replicação é a primitiva de difusão
com garantia de ordem total, utilizada para definir a ordem de execução das
transacções.
Uma optimização normalmente utilizada pelos protocolos de ordenação total é a
utilização da ordenação espontânea da rede como indicador da ordem das mensagens,
e usar esta ordem espontânea para processar de forma optimista as mensagens
em paralelo com a sua ordenação. Infelizmente, em redes de larga escala
a espontaneidade de rede é praticamente residual, inviabilizando a utilização
desta optimização precisamente no cenário em que a sua utilização seria mais
vantajosa. Para contrariar esta adversidade propomos um novo protocolo de ordenação
total com entrega optimista para redes de larga escala. Este protocolo
utiliza informação estatística local a cada processo para "produzir" uma ordem
espontânea muito mais coincidente com a ordem total obtida viabilizando a utilização
deste tipo de optimizações em redes de larga escala. Permitir que protocolos de replicação de bases de dados baseados em certificação
suportem replicação parcial coloca vários desafios que afectam directamente a
forma com é executado o procedimento de certificação. Dependendo da abordagem
à replicação parcial, a complexidade gerada pode até comprometer os
propósitos da replicação parcial. Esta tese concebe, implementa e avalia duas variantes
do protocolo da database state machine com suporte para replicação parcial,
analisando os benefícios e adequação da replicação parcial ao teste padronizado
de desempenho de bases de dados, o TPC-C.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - ESCADA (POSI/CHS/33792/2000)
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Separating data from metadata for robustness and scalability
textWhen building storage systems that aim to simultaneously provide robustness, scalability, and efficiency, one faces a fundamental tension, as higher robustness typically incurs higher costs and thus hurts both efficiency and scalability. My research shows that an approach to storage system design based on a simple principle—separating data from metadata—can yield systems that address elegantly and effectively that tension in a variety of settings. One observation motivates our approach: much of the cost paid by many strong protection techniques is incurred to detect errors. This observation suggests an opportunity: if we can build a low-cost oracle to detect errors and identify correct data, it may be possible to reduce the cost of protection without weakening its guarantees. This dissertation shows that metadata, if carefully designed, can serve as such an oracle and help a storage system protect its data with minimal cost. This dissertation shows how to effectively apply this idea in three very different systems: Gnothi—a storage replication protocol that combines the high availability of asynchronous replication and the low cost of synchronous replication for a small-scale block storage; Salus—a large-scale block storage with unprecedented guarantees in terms of consistency, availability, and durability in the face of a wide range of server failures; and Exalt—a tool to emulate a large storage system with 100 times fewer machines.Computer Science
2019 EURēCA Abstract Book
Listing of student participant abstracts
Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010
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