CS 854 Advanced Topics in Computer Systems: HTTP Streaming Video

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Course Info

Instructor: Tim Brecht
email: brecht@cs.uwaterloo.ca (include CS854 in the Subject line !!!)
Day: Mondays
Time: 10:00 - 12:20
Location: DC 2585 (we have moved to this room).
NOTE: we may occasionally have to hold class in DC 3313 so please watch Piazza for announcments.
Office Hour: DC 3508, Day and Time: TBA
URL : http://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~brecht/courses/854/
Piazza (Signup) *** Please use your uwaterloo email address if you have one *** http://piazza.com/uwaterloo.ca/fall2012/cs854

Grading (tentative)

15% Class Participation
25% Paper Summaries / Presentations
50% Class Project Paper (likely 6-8 pages)
10% Paper/project reviews.

Class Participation

Class Participation is an important component of this class. You are expected to have read the papers and be prepared to discuss them in class.

About the Course

Rapidly growing amounts of Internet streaming video traffic are being delivered to viewers by companies like Apple, Adobe, Akamai, Netflix and Microsoft using HTTP. HTTP is being used because it is simple, it works through firewalls, and the existing ubiquitous infrastructure that consists of web servers, caches, Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) and clients can be easily leveraged. While this infrastructure (the HTTP ecosystem) does work, it has been designed, tuned and optimized to serve primarily small files that exhibit a high degree of locality, rather than large video files with a long tail of content that is viewed only a few times. In this course we will examine issues related to understanding and improving the performance of the HTTP ecosystem while serving streaming HTTP video.
Course Meetings : Most likely weekly discussion of 2-3 papers but this format may vary. Most meetings will involve reading and critiquing the papers assigned as reading for that week.
Topics: Some of the content may be dictated by the interests of the students. The following is a list of possible topics:
- Background and existing techniques
- Workloads
- Web Servers
- Proxy Caches
- Content Distribution Networks
- Clients

Expected Background

These are not strictly required but many of the papers and discussion are likely to revolve around computer systems research so a good background in the following areas are recommended.

operating systems
networking
possibly some computer architecture
systems programming skills
good communication skills
some performance analysis and statistics

Course Readings and Course Schedule

Hopefully some of this will be decided in conjunction with the class participants.
Possible Course Readings and Course Schedule

Course Project and Paper

It will be possible to work on your own or in small groups of 2 or 3. Groups of 2 or 3 are highly recommended. If the project is large enough larger groups can also be created.
The project paper will be due on the last day of classes.
After all projects are handed each student will read and provide a conference style review of some subset of the papers. This will be followed by a meeting that takes the form of a program committee meeting.
All projects and groups must be approved.
Information about what I'd like you to talk about for the project proposal.
WORKING DOCUMENT : The Final Project / Paper Logistics (THIS WILL CHANGE)

Academic Integrity

Note that students are not generally permitted to submit the same work for credit in multiple classes. For example, if a student has reviewed or presented one of the papers in another seminar class, he or she should avoid reviewing or presenting it again for this class.

The general university policy:

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check http://www.uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/ for more information.]
Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm. When in doubt please be certain to contact the department's administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity [check http://www.uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/] to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about "rules" for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate Associate Dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/guidelines/penaltyguidelines.htm.
Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances) (other than a petition) or Policy 71 (Student Discipline) may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 (Student Appeals) http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm.

Note for Students with Disabilities

The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term.