COMP 7970 Storage Systems

Fall 2007

   

Instructor: Dr. Xiao Qin

 

Office hours: Monday 10:00-12:00am 

General Information | Announcements | Syllabus | Projects | Lectures   

Announcements

  • The presentation schedule is available. 

  • Technical reports, due 12/12/07 at 5:30pm. [Posted Tuesday 11/28/2007]

  • Final presentations, 11/30/07 at 9:00am, 12/3/07 at 9:00am, 12/5/07 at 8:45am, 12/7/07 at 8:45am.   

  • Progress reports are due on 10/31/2007 (Wednesday). [Posted Monday 10/8/2007]

  • Reviews are due on 10/15/2007 (Monday). [Posted Monday 10/8/2007]

  • The proposal due is postponed to 9/21/2007. [Posted Friday 9/7/2007]

  • The research meeting schedule is available. [Posted Monday 8/20/2007]

  • The Lectures webpage is available. [Posted Friday 8/17/2007]

  • The project webpage is available. [Posted Friday 8/17/2007]

  • Download syllabus here.  [Posted Friday 8/17/2007]

  • The New Course Announcement of COMP 7970 is available. [Posted Friday 6/1/2007]

  • The webpage of COMP 7970 is launched. [Posted Friday 6/1/2007]

Course Information

In this graduate class, we will address advanced topics in the arena of storage systems. We presume that students who will take this class have a basic knowledge of the design of operating systems. This course will be research intensive, aiming at deriving practical and achievable ground rules for storage systems design. Each student is expected to do a project including a written report and an in-class presentation on a topic to be arranged with the instructor. You will be expected to collaborate with other students toward the completion of the research project related to storage systems.  

Students who have completed this course should be capable of doing the following:

  • Understand fundamental issues in storage systems design
  • Understand the architecture and characteristics of components on which storage systems are built
  • Improve technical writing and oral presentation skills.

Topics Covered  (These topics may change)

  • File systems
  • Parallel disk systems
  • Scheduling
  • Data replication
  • Security
  • Virtualization
  • Distributed storage systems
  • Memory-based file systems
  • Energy-efficient storage systems

Prerequisite: COMP 3500 Introduction to Operating Systems or consent of instructor.

Office Hours: Dr. Qin will have office hours on Monday at 10:00-12:00am in his office (109 Dunstan Hall). To get the most out of office hours, it is recommended to send an email in advance.

Textbooks:  There are no texts for this course. Handouts, book chapters, and papers will be used as supplement course material. The course material will be posted online. 

Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory. This is a graduate class; therefore, students will have to actively participate in class. It is believed that if you miss many classes (more than 6), there is a strong likelihood that you will not pass the class. Please notify me in advance if you will attend conferences, research meetings, or the like. 

Grades: 

Class Participation   20%

Proposal                   20%

Progress Report      20%

Presentation             20%

Technical Report     20%

Resources

·         IBM System Storage and TotalStorage

·         Technical Journals: IEEE Transactions on Computers, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems

·         International Conferences: USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies (FAST)

·         Storage Systems Research Center @ UCSC

Study Hints

  • Ask questions in class.
  • At the first sign of difficulty, talk to your instructor and teaching assistant.
  • Form a study group and meet regularly.
  • Construct chapter summaries noting concepts, definitions, & procedures.