CS 553

Internet Services
Spring 2003

Time: Tuesday Thursday 6th Period (4:30-5:50)
Room: First day of class (1/21/2003): SEC 216
Room After the first day: Core A (Core 301)
Instructor: Richard Martin

Announcements:

• (5/1) Due date for final projects moved to Sunday, 5/11.
• (4/22) Link to overview paper on localization posted
• (4/17) Example review is posted. See review the assignments page.
• (4/15) all position papers are posted.
• (4/10) Review assignments for position paper #2 are posted.
• (4/2) Deadline for position paper #2 moved to Sunday, 4/6, 11:59:59 PM.
• (3/24) Revised presentation schedule posted
• (3/24) Please email the instructor 1-2 positions by Friday, 3/28
• (3/13) Position paper #2 and evaluations due dates moved 1 week (to Friday 4/4 and Friday 4/18)
• (3/13) No class the week of 3/24.
• (3/9) Class position papers #1 are posted
• (2/28) Revised Reading Scheduled is posted
• (2/23) Sample position papers and guidelines are posted.
• (1/31) Some position topics are posted. A few more will be posted next week.
• (1/31): General guidelines for writing position papers can be found here.
• (1/22) sample class project posted.

Overview

This course is about the technologies needed to construct large-scale Internet Services. The topics will range from building from the data-center to the user's access point. The course is structured as an advanced graduate seminar. There will be 2-3 readings a week. Each paper will be presented by one student, and a discussion of the work will follow.

Prerequisites

Students are required to take a diagnostic exam to enter the course. Students should know all the material in cs352 and cs416 as second nature. In addition, students should be familiar with the concepts in cs552. and have some familiarity with the concepts in cs519.

Objectives

Students should gain an in-depth knowledge of large scale Internet services. This semester, the course will cover fault modeling, recovery, human factors, quality of service, network measurement, and location-based services.

Students should also learn how to critically evaluate the various design schemes and evaluation methodologies proposed in the literature. In addition, students are expected to articulate why various designs and methodologies have, or will have, succeeded or failed.

Course Structure and Expected Work

As an advanced graduate-level course, student participation is essential. Students are not only expected to have read the paper, but also are expected to form critical judgments bring them to class, and express them during the discussion period.

Students will be required to write two 5000 word (maximum) position papers on topics about the class. For the first position paper, students must pick from a list of positions. For the second paper, students may, if they wish, come up with their own positions. In addition, as part of the grade for the second position paper, students will evaluate the position papers of several another students (anonymously).

There will be a course-long project, which students may pick the topic. The final project can be one of:

• An experiment and analysis. The experiment could replicate a result of a previous work we have read in class.
• A novel analysis of previously collected experimental data,
• A demonstration system of a new idea, method, or methodology.

A reasonable quality sample class project can be found here.

The project must be related to the class material Students may work in small groups (of up to 3 people) if they wish. Students must submit a formal 2-3 page project proposal which outlines the kind of projects, the goals of the projects, and the expected results.

Grading and Evaluation

• Class Participation: 20%
• Two in class presentations: 20% (10% each)
  • Content: 10%
  • Delivery: 10%
• Project Proposal: 5%
• First position paper: 15%
• Second position paper and evaluations (20%)
• Final Project writeup (Due 1/5/2002): 20%

Reading List

The course reading list can be found here

Schedule