COMP9334: Capacity Planning ofComputer Systems and Networks
Week 1-A: Course Overview
Lecturer: Prof. Sanjay Jha
NETWORKS RESEARCH GROUP, CSE, UNSW
Course web site
www.cse.unsw.edu.au/˜cs9334
Everything is posted on the course web site
Course outline (PLEASE READ THIS THOROUGHLY)Lecture notesProject specificationsLab instructions, allocations and locationsAssignmentsSample problemsNotices: Your responsibility to check this from time totime for important updates/changes to schedule
Page 1
Personnel
Staff
LIC: Sanjay JhaLab Coordinator: Kail (Lucas) Li
Consultations
With Lecturer:Thursday 12pm-1:00pm @ K17, Room 611
E-mail: [email protected] use this e-mail address for course related queries,rather than our personal e-mail addresses
If you cannot make it for consultation or want to discusssomething personally, schedule an appointment
Page 2
Course objective
You will learn techniques for performance evaluation ofcomputer systems and networks
You will learn how to solve capacity planning problemsusing mathematical modelling and optimization
These techniques are building blocks to the design ofsystems to meet performance specifications
Page 3
Textbook
Performance by Design: Computer Capacity Planning by Example,Daniel A. Menasce, Virgilio A.F. Almeida, and Lawrence W. Dowdy,Prentice Hall PTR, 2004
Web site: www.cs.gmu.edu/˜menasce/perfbyd/
ErrataMicrosoft Excel workbooks for download
Page 4
Reference texts
The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis: Techniquesfor Experimental Design, Measurement, Simulation, and Modeling,Raj Jain, Wiley, 1991
Data Networks, Dimitri Bertsekas and Robert Gallager, PrenticeHall, Second Edition, 1992
An Introduction to Queueing Systems, Sanjay K. Bose, KluwerAcademic/Plenum Publishers, 2002
Introduction to Operations Research, Frederick S. Hillier andGerald J. Lieberman, McGraw-Hill, Seventh Edition, 2001
Page 5
Assumed knowledge
Communications basics:
Basic data transferLANs and WANsProtocol conceptsTCP/IP, HTTP, and similarPre-requisite 9331/3331
Page 6
Assumed knowledge (cont.)
Computer systems architecture:
Basic computer organizationMemory hierarchy, virtual memoryProcess scheduling:
Round robin, context switchProcess priority structures
Basic concepts of client-server systems
Page 7
Assumed knowledge (cont.)
Mathematics:
Calculus: differentiation, integrationLinear algebra: vectors, matrices, linear equationsProbability
We will review some basic probability theory in PartC of this lecture
Page 8
Assumed knowledge (cont.)
We assume you have basic programming skills
Sample code will be given in Matlab.
You can choose any programming language to docomputation and simulation but Matlab is preferred.
You may wish to download Octave, free GPL compatiblewith Matlab
Web site: http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/
Page 9
Assessment
Assignment Check class home page for deadlines
Lab Check class home page for deadlines
Project Check class home page for deadlines
Mid-semester class test Check class home page for deadlines
Material covered TBA
Final Exam Check class home page for deadlines
Material covered TBA
Individual work, no plagiarism, penalties apply to late submissions
Exam questions test critical thinking and problem solving,memorising things will not help
Page 10
Assessment (cont.)
Assignment Mid-semester class test
Lab Final examination
Project
Total A (100 marks) E (100 marks)
Your final mark M will be computed as the harmonic mean
M =2AE
A + E
To obtain a minimum Pass grade, you MUST achieve
M ≥ 50 and A ≥ 40 and E ≥ 40
Page 11
How to learn?
Lectures
Key concepts, illustration by small examplesBe interactive through Q & ATake notes on the slides
Sample problems
A chance to test whether you have understood theconcepts introduced in the lecturesAttempt first before you check the solution we provide
Page 12
How to learn? (cont.)
MessageBoard
Use it to discuss anything that is course-related, e.g.Concepts from the lecturesProject queriesAssignment queriesSample problem solutions
Don’t think your question is silly, others may have thesame problem
The key is understanding, not memorisation
Page 13