Course Description

This seminar is a graduate level study of the issues in the design and implementation of archival storage systems. The readings are taken from the current research literature and articles of historical significance. There is a substantial amount of reading required for this course, and several presentations will be required. You should only enroll in this seminar if you are prepared to keep up with the class.

The field of storage systems is one of the fastest growing and most interesting research areas in computer science. The storage system is at the core of most computer systems, and its performance often dominates the entire system. It is also responsible for the safe-keeping of the most valuable assets of an organization – its data. Archival storage systems present unique challenges not present in traditional file systems. For example, the amount of data in an archival storage system can be enormous and this data must be readable (and understandable) for decades and perhaps centuries.

In terms of preparation, you are expected to have basic operating systems knowledge such as presented in a standard undergraduate course like CS 111. You are expected to have taken CS 221, Advanced Operating Systems. If you have do not have this level of preparation, you should discuss it with me. You may be admitted if you can demonstrate the knowledge and sophistication necessary for successful completion of the course.

Course Expectations

Reading will be assigned before each class meeting (a tentative schedule appears below). Usually this will consist of two articles from the research literature. You must read these articles carefully and prepare a short summary (including a few questions or insightful comments about the material).

These summaries must be prepared before the class where the articles are discussed. A suitable summary of an article consists of brief answers to questions such as the following seven questions:

1. What is the problem the authors are trying to solve?
2. What other approaches or solutions existed at the time that this work was done?
3. What was wrong with the other approaches or solutions?
4. What is their approach or solution?
5. Why is it better than the other approaches or solutions?
6. How well does it perform?
7. Why is this work important?

The summaries will be used in the discussion during class. You must turn in your summaries at the end of each class, and at the end of the quarter you will be expected to turn in a portfolio containing all of the summaries that you prepared during the quarter.

You will give a presentation of several research articles during the quarter (the actual number depends on the number of students enrolled in the seminar). Your presentation must cover the essential ideas in the article including the goals of the research, related research, essential details of the research, key results and the significance of those results. These are the same elements you would cover in a conference presentation, so if you have spoken at a conference you know what is expected, if not then this is an excellent time to learn. You must also be prepared to lead the class discussion of the article.

Students will be required to write a report on a topic in the area of archival storage systems. This report should be the results of a project, original research (strongly preferred) or a strong survey of prior art. Reporting work done for another course is unacceptable. You must choose a topic by second week of the quarter. Each student will give a final presentation on their project during a poster session at the end of the quarter. Faculty and students will be invited to the poster session, and evaluation will be done by the faculty of the Storage Systems Research Center (Profs. Long, Brandt and Miller).

Your grade in the seminar is based 25% on preparedness and participation, 25% for presentations, and 50% for your term project and report.

General Class Information

Class Mailing List:

cmps290s@cs.ucsc.edu — for announcements and general discussion.

Lecture times:

Tuesday & Thursday, 14:00-15:45, JBE 169

Professor:

Name: Darrell Long (darrell@cs.ucsc.edu)

Phone: 831-459-2616

Office: JBE 247

Instructor Office Hours:

By appointment.

 

Tentative Schedule