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Parallax is a distributed storage system that uses virtualization to provide storage facilities specifically for virtual environments. The system employs a novel archi-tecture in which storage features that have traditionally been implemented directly on high-end storage arrays and switches are relocated into a federation of storage VMs, sharing the same physical hosts as the VMs that they serve. This architecture retains the single administrative domain and OS agnosticism achieved by array- and switch-based approaches, while lowering the bar on hardware requirements and facilitating the development of new features. Parallax offers a comprehensive set of storage features including frequent, low-overhead snapshot of virtual disks, the “gold-mastering” of template images, and the ability to use local disks as a persistent cache to dampen burst demand on networked storage.

Parallax is a distributed storage system that uses virtualization to provide storage facilities specifically for virtual environments. The system employs a novel archi-tecture in which storage features that have traditionally been implemented directly on high-end storage arrays and switches are relocated into a federation of storage VMs, sharing the same physical hosts as the VMs that they serve. This architecture retains the single administrative domain and OS agnosticism achieved by array- and switch-based approaches, while lowering the bar on hardware requirements and facilitating the development of new features. Parallax offers a comprehensive set of storage features including frequent, low-overhead snapshot of virtual disks, the “gold-mastering” of template images, and the ability to use local disks as a persistent cache to dampen burst demand on networked storage.

Parallax is a distributed storage system that uses virtualization to provide storage facilities specifically for virtual environments. The system employs a novel archi-tecture in which storage features that have traditionally been implemented directly on high-end storage arrays and switches are relocated into a federation of storage VMs, sharing the same physical hosts as the VMs that they serve. This architecture retains the single administrative domain and OS agnosticism achieved by array- and switch-based approaches, while lowering the bar on hardware requirements and facilitating the development of new features. Parallax offers a comprehensive set of storage features including frequent, low-overhead snapshot of virtual disks, the “gold-mastering” of template images, and the ability to use local disks as a persistent cache to dampen burst demand on networked storage. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

Recent years have seen an uptick in master boot record (MBR) based rootkits that load before the Windows operating system and subvert the operating system’s own procedures. As such, MBR rootkits are difficult to counter with operating system-based antivirus software that runs at the same privilege-level as the rookits. Hypervisors operate at a higher privilege level than the guests they manage, creating a high-ground position in the host. This high-ground position can be exploited to perform security checks on the virtual machine guests where the checking software is isolated from guest-based viruses. The efficient introspection system described in this thesis targets existing virtualized systems to improve security with real-time, concurrent memory introspection capabilities. Efficient introspection decouples memory introspection from virtual machine guest execution, establishes coherent and consistent memory views between the host and running guest, while maintaining normal guest operation. Existing introspection systems have provided one or two of these properties but not all three at once. This thesis presents a new concurrent-computing approach – high-performance memory snapshotting – to accelerating hypervisor based introspection of virtual machine guest memory that combines all three elements to improve performance and security. Memory snapshots create a coherent and consistent memory view of the guest that can be shared with the independently running introspection application. Three memory snapshotting mechanisms are presented and evaluated for their impact on normal guest operation. Existing introspection systems and security protection techniques that were previously dismissed as too slow are now be enabled by efficient introspection. This thesis explains why existing introspection systems are inadequate, describes how existing system performance can be improved, evaluates an efficient introspection prototype on both applications and microbenchmarks, and discusses two potential security applications that are enabled by efficient introspection. These applications point to efficient introspection’s utility for supporting useful security applications.

Viele moderne Dateisysteme unterstützen Snapshots zur Erzeugung konsistenter Online-Backups, zur Wiederherstellung verfälschter oder ungewollt geänderter Dateien, sowie zur Rückverfolgung von Änderungen an Dateien und Verzeichnissen. Während frühere Arbeiten zu Snapshots in Dateisystemen vorwiegend lokale Dateisysteme behandeln, haben moderne Trends wie Cloud- oder Cluster-Computing dazu geführt, dass die Datenhaltung in verteilten Speichersystemen an Bedeutung gewinnt. Solche Systeme umfassen häufig eine Vielzahl an Speicher-Servern, was besondere Herausforderungen mit Hinblick auf Skalierbarkeit, Verfügbarkeit und Ausfallsicherheit mit sich bringt. Diese Arbeit beschreibt einen Snapshot-Algorithmus für großangelegte verteilte Dateisysteme und dessen Integration in XtreemFS, ein skalierbares objektbasiertes Dateisystem für Grid- und Cloud-Computing-Umgebungen. Die zwei Bausteine des Algorithmus sind ein System zur effizienten Erzeugung und Verwaltung von Dateiinhalts- und Metadaten-Versionen, sowie ein skalierbares, ausfallsicheres Verfahren zur Aggregation bestimmter Versionen in einem Snapshot. Um das Problem einer fehlenden globalen Zeit zu bewältigen, implementiert der Algorithmus ein weniger restriktives, auf Zeitstempeln lose synchronisierter Server-Uhren basierendes Konsistenzmodell für Snapshots. Die wesentlichen Beiträge der Arbeit sind: 1) ein formales Modell von Snapshots und Snapshot-Konsistenz in verteilten Dateisystemen; 2) die Beschreibung effizienter Verfahren zur Verwaltung von Metadaten- und Dateiinhalts-Versionen in objektbasierten Dateisystemen; 3) die formale Darstellung eines skalierbaren, ausfallsicheren Snapshot-Algorithmus für großangelegte objektbasierte Dateisysteme; 4) eine detaillierte Beschreibung der Implementierung des Algorithmus in XtreemFS. Eine umfangreiche Auswertung belegt, dass der vorgestellte Algorithmus die Nutzerdatenrate kaum negativ beeinflusst, und dass er mit großen Zahlen an Snapshots und Versionen skaliert. / Snapshots are present in many modern file systems, where they allow to create consistent on-line backups, to roll back corruptions or inadvertent changes of files, and to keep a record of changes to files and directories. While most previous work on file system snapshots refers to local file systems, modern trends like cloud and cluster computing have shifted the focus towards distributed storage infrastructures. Such infrastructures often comprise large numbers of storage servers, which presents particular challenges in terms of scalability, availability and failure tolerance. This thesis describes snapshot algorithm for large-scale distributed file systems and its integration in XtreemFS, a scalable object-based file system for grid and cloud computing environments. The two building blocks of the algorithm are a version management scheme, which efficiently records versions of file content and metadata, as well as a scalable and failure-tolerant mechanism that aggregates specific versions in a snapshot. To overcome the lack of a global time in a distributed system, the algorithm implements a relaxed consistency model for snapshots, which is based on timestamps assigned by loosely synchronized server clocks. The main contributions of the thesis are: 1) a formal model of snapshots and snapshot consistency in distributed file systems; 2) the description of efficient schemes for the management of metadata and file content versions in object-based file systems; 3) the formal presentation of a scalable, fault-tolerant snapshot algorithm for large-scale object-based file systems; 4) a detailed description of the implementation of the algorithm as part of XtreemFS. An extensive evaluation shows that the proposed algorithm has no severe impact on user I/O, and that it scales to large numbers of snapshots and versions.

Dans cette thèse, nous présentons des approches formelles permettant de simplifier la modélisation et la preuve du calcul distribué. Un système distribué est défini par une collection d’entités de calcul autonomes,qui communiquent ensemble pour accomplir une tâche commune. Chaque entité exécute localement son calcul et ne peut interagir qu’avec ses voisins.Le développement et la preuve du calcul distribué est un défi qui nécessite l’utilisation de méthodes et outils avancés. Dans nos travaux de thèse,nous étudions quelques problèmes fondamentaux du distribués, en utilisant Event-B, et nous proposons des schémas de preuve basés sur une approche“correct-par-construction”. Nous considérons un système distribué défini par réseau fiable, de processus anonymes et avec un modèle de communication basé sur l’échange de messages. Dans certains cas, nous faisons abstraction du modèle de communications en utilisant le modèle des calculs locaux. Nous nous focalisons d’abord sur le problème de détection de terminaison du calcul distribué. Nous proposons un patron formel permettant de transformer des algorithmes “avec détection de terminaison locale” en des algorithmes“avec détection de terminaison globale”. Ensuite, nous explicitons les preuves de correction d’un algorithme d’énumération. Nous proposons un développement formel qui servirait de point de départ aux calculs qui nécessitent l’hypothèse d’identification unique des processus. Enfin, nous étudions le problème du snapshot et du calcul d’état global. Nous proposons une solution basée sur une composition d’algorithmes existants. / In this work, we propose formal approaches for modeling andproving distributed algorithms. Such computations are designed to run oninterconnected autonomous computing entities for achieving a common task :each entity executes asynchronously the same code and interacts locally withits immediate neighbors. Correctness of distributed algorithms is a difficulttask and requires advancing methods and tools. In this thesis, we focus onsome basic problems of distributed computing, and we propose Event-B solutionsbased on the ”correct-by-construction” approach. We consider reliablesystems. We also assume that the network is anonymous and processes communicatewith asynchronous messages. In some cases, we refer to local computationsmodel to provide an abstraction of the distributed computations.We propose a formal framework enhancing the termination detection propertyof distributed algorithms. By relying on refinement and composition,we show that an algorithm specified with “local termination detection”, canbe reused in order to compute the same algorithm with “global terminationdetection”. We then focus on the enumeration problem : we start with anabstract initial specification of the problem, and we enrich it gradually bya progressive and incremental refinement. The computed result constitutesbasic initial steps of others distributed algorithms which assume that processeshave unique identifiers. We therefore focus on snapshot problems, andwe propose to investigate how existing algorithms can be composed, withrefinement, in order to compute a global state in an anonymous network.

This thesis reviews the background, influences, and evolution of three works that form Posthumous, an exhibit by the thesis candidate. The thesis begins with a series of vignettes that relate a number of personal experiences involving death, and photography, which have influenced the conceptual development of the work. Chapters devoted to each piece follow the vignettes. These chapters refer to the various influences that have led to the development of the following works: Obit to Self: April 10, 2005, Posthumous, and Jay. These influences range from the movie Hotel Rwanda, to handbills for punk-rock shows. The thesis ends with a description of the exhibition at the Anderson Gallery.

This thesis will explore the causes and consequences of the absence of vernacular photography from museum collections. Through historical analysis of vernacular photography and a close interpretation of a contemporary family snapshot, I will argue that vernacular photographs are important objects of great cultural significance and poignant personal meaning. Photography has always defied categorization. It serves multiple functions and roles, is studied in a vast number of disciplines, and exists in a variety of institutions and collections. Furthermore, it is difficult to classify a single photograph. Vernacular photography thus poses a challenge to museum methods of sorting documents, artifacts, and art. Consequently the photographs that are most significant in everyday life are often missing from the museum setting or are misinterpreted and stripped of their meaning.

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