The vMatrix
Amr A. Awadallah - Mendel Rosenblum
aaa@cs.stanford.edu - mendel@cs.stanford.edu
Computer Systems Lab -
EE Department -
Stanford University
PhD Orals and Thesis:
Publications:
-
"The vMatrix: Equi-Ping Game Server Placement For Pre-Arranged First-Person-Shooter Multiplayer Matches" (PDF),
Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
The 4th ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA 2006), Dubai/Sharjah, UAE, March 2006.
(Powerpoint Talk)
-
"The vMatrix: Server Switching" (PDF),
Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
IEEE 10th International Workshop on Future Trends in Distributed Computing Systems (IEEE FTDCS 2004), Suzhou, China, May 2004.
(Powerpoint Talk)
-
"The vMatrix: A Network of Virtual Machine Monitors for Dynamic Content Distribution" (PDF),
Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
7th International Workshop on Web Content Caching and Distribution (WCW 2002), Boulder, Colorado, August 2002.
(Powerpoint Talk,
Conference Photo
)
Presentations:
- Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
"The vMatrix: Equi-Ping Game Server Placement For Pre-Arranged First-Person-Shooter Multiplayer Matches" (powerpoint),
The 4th ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA 2006), Dubai/Sharjah, UAE, March 2006.
- Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
"The vMatrix: Server Switching" (powerpoint),
IEEE 10th International Workshop on Future Trends in Distributed Computing Systems (IEEE FTDCS 2004), Suzhou, China, May 2004.
- Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
"The vMatrix: Teleporting Servers via Virtual Machine Monitors" (Power Point),
USENIX LISA 2002 Work In Progress, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Nov 2002. [This talk
was voted the 2nd runner up for the WiP Whip session.]
- Amr A. Awadallah, Ben Ling, and Armando Fox,
"Internet Scale Architecural Properties and Primitives" (Power Point),
Stanford-Berkeley ROC Miniretreat, Santa Cruz, California, September 2002.
- Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
"The vMatrix: Teleporting Servers via Virtual Machine Monitors" (Power Point),
ACM MobiCom 2002, Atlanta, Georgia, September 2002.
- Amr A. Awadallah and Mendel Rosenblum,
"The vMatrix: A Network of Virtual Machine Monitors for Dynamic Content Distribution" (powerpoint),
7th International Workshop on Web Content Caching and Distribution (WCW 2002), Boulder, Colorado, August 2002.
Abstract:
Currently, most Internet services are pre-allocated to servers statically; which
leads to sluggish interactivity, low availability, limited scalability, and delay fairness
issues.
In this thesis, we present a novel architecture that solves these issues without
requiring significant code changes (i.e., backward-compatible). This architecture is
called the vMatrix, and it is an overlay network of virtual machine monitors
(VMMs). A VMM encapsulates the state of the machine in a virtual machine file,
which could then be migrated and activated on any real machine running the
VMM software.
We identified three challenging Internet problems that previous solutions failed
to address in a backward-compatible way. We then implemented a prototype of
the vMatrix and studied it in detail as a solution for these three challenges:
- Dynamic Content Distribution: Moving services closer to the Internet edge,
thus reducing latency and rendering such services more interactive and
available for end users.
- Server Switching: Sharing a pool of servers between more than one service,
thus leveraging the benefits of statistical multiplexing to reduce overall
hardware requirements for running a group of distinct Internet services.
- Equi-ping Game Server Placement: Placing game servers at optimized equiping
locations to improve the fairness of multi-player first-person-shooter
games by reducing the delay differential between participating players.
We also demonstrate additional side benefits, including on-demand replication
for absorbing flash crowds (in case of a newsworthy event like a major
catastrophe) and faster recovery times for improved overall reliability.
The vMatrix:
The name The vMatrix comes from the analogy to the popular sci-fi movie
The Matrix.
In the movie, machines controlled humans by virtualizing all their external senses;
we propose doing the same back to the machines :)
It is a virtual matrix of real machine hosts running VMM software, these
hosts are ready to be "possessed" by guest VMs (ghosts) encapsulating
internet services.
Definitions:
- Scalability: The ease with which an internet service can be
adapted to handle higher demand without quality degradation.
- Interactivity: The responsiveness of the user interface of
an internet service as perceived by end users.
- Availability: The percent duration an internet service is
perceived as up and running by end users.
- Performability: The percentage of functionality that an internet
service is operating at. (e.g. a search engine performing at 80% means
that 20% of the index is offline, or a mail service performing at 50%
enables you to read messages but not send them :) )
- Efficiency: The degree to which an internet system performs its
designated functions with minimum consumption of resources
(CPUs, Memories, Network, Humans, ... )
- Cost Prohibitive: A cost prohibitive transition is one in which
the human time involved in switching over to the new
framework is more expensive than can be validated by the
rewards to be achieved from the new framework.
Related Links
Funny Matrix Videos (I use some of these after the talks to end with a good laugh):
(Last Updated 10/03/08 by Amr A. Awadallah)
