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Re: [Xen-devel] Undergraduate Thesis Work

To: Travis Vachon <Travis.F.Vachon@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] Undergraduate Thesis Work
From: Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 04:17:17 +0100
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[ cc-ing to the list as you suggested]

>  I'll probably get into this a little bit this summer, since
> understanding how to hack the code and actually doing it tend to be two
> different things.

Yeah :-)  There's also the matter of getting familiar with the codebase, 
although there are people on the mailing lists who'll answer questions.

> I checked the roadmap, but figured most of the things on the Xen 3.0
> roadmap were probably being worked on, since it said the planned release
> was in July, but if this isn't the case, some of the cluster
> transparency and cluster management related projects look interesting,
> as do the CPU load balancing and QoS features.

Stephan is working on CPU load balancing, I believe.

I don't know of anyone working on the cluster issues.  In particular, you may 
be able to find some interesting work in the cluster management area: it'd be 
nice to have cluster-wide load balancing, load monitoring, intelligent 
migration strategies, etc.

> Ideally, this project would be more than just adding filesystem support
> or something similar to Xen, as this would not be the best research topic.

I assume you mean the CoW filesystem?  It's a reasonably challenging project 
to do well but it's admittedly not so research-y.

> For the research roadmap it looked like the projects listed were already
> being looked at by other groups, but topics that look interesting
> include Multi-level secure Xen, and possibly the shared buffer cache and
> VM forks research.

I'll be looking at some of the shared buffer cache stuff.  It might not be the 
best place for you to start, since it requires quite involved knowledge of 
Xen and Linux.  I think some folks are working on the VM forks (or at least 
planning to).

You might be able to find something interesting under the XenSE work once that 
gets going.

> I wasn't sure if I should forward this to the whole list, but if you
> think all of this information would useful to other folks, please feel
> free to send it along.

Done!  Maybe someone else will have some suggestions too.

I'll think on it some more and let you know if there's anything else.  In the 
meantime, you'll probably find it useful to read the papers under 
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/architecture.html

Cheers,
Mark

> Thanks again, and I hope to be in touch with you soon!
>
> Travis
>
> Mark Williamson wrote:
> >Hi there,
> >
> >It'd be really nice if we could find something mutually beneficial for you
> > to work on.
> >
> >How much experience in OS programming do you have currently?  Any
> > experience hacking on the Linux / BSD kernels?  What sort of level should
> > the project work be at - can you give any examples of other projects
> > people have done?
> >
> >Have you looked at the roadmap:
> >http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/roadmap.html for examples
> > of things we're looking at?
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Mark
> >
> >On Wednesday 11 May 2005 00:47, Travis Vachon wrote:
> >>To whom it may concern
> >>
> >>I am a third year Computer Science major at Williams College in
> >>Williamstown, Massachusetts looking into thesis work to complete the
> >>honors program for my degree.
> >>
> >>To fulfill the requirements for this program, I am required to perform
> >>independent research during the fall semester of next year leading into a
> >>Senior Thesis during our January term and the spring semester of 2006.
> >>
> >>I'm currently hoping to do research into virtual machines, first by
> >>acquainting myself with virtualization techniques in general, and then by
> >>trying to focus in on modern projects, of which Xen seems to be ideal,
> >>given its open source nature and the recent attention it has gotten from
> >> a number of sources.
> >>
> >>Once this is done, for my thesis I would like to attempt to either extend
> >>the functionality of Xen, or use Xen in a way that is of interest to the
> >>virtualization community.
> >>
> >>I am e-mailing this list because I am hoping to get the input of the Xen
> >>developers on current long term projects within Xen or using Xen that
> >>would be appropriate for this kind of project (approximately 4 1/2 months
> >>of work, after research is complete, carrying an otherwise full
> >>course load).
> >>
> >>Essentially, I am hoping for answers to the following questions:
> >>
> >>1) What additional functionality is being considered on the time scale
> >> I'm looking at? Of course, I assume that most of the projects on the Xen
> >> 3.0 roadmap are being incorporated into the next release of Xen this
> >> summer, so work on most of these projects would be repetitive. What
> >> kinds of additional projects are being looked into within the next year?
> >>
> >>2) What kinds of projects utilizing Xen are being looked at? What kind of
> >>research would be useful?
> >>
> >>3) How viable is this idea? I will need to have an idea for a thesis
> >>pretty much pinned down at the beginning of the fall semester next year
> >>(around September). Should I continue to pursue Xen as a topic for
> >>research and thesis work?
> >>
> >>4) What is the best way to continue to stay in touch with the community?
> >>Is this the best list? If this e-mail would be better served, or would be
> >>more appropriate on another list, where should I send it?
> >>
> >>
> >>Thank you very much for reading this e-mail, and please excuse me if I
> >>have posted this in the wrong place. I appreciate any responses (even
> >>"This is the worst idea I've ever heard" or "What are you thinking?"),
> >> and I look forward to further communication with any interested parties.
> >>
> >>
> >>Thank you again!
> >>
> >>Travis Vachon, Williams College class of 2006
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>_______________________________________________
> >>Xen-devel mailing list
> >>Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel

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