6.897 Cloud Computing Seminar (Spring 2011)

Time and place: Fridays 2-4 pm starting Feb 4 2011. Room 34-304.
Pre-req: 6.824, 6.829, 6.830, or equivalent; or, good performance in 6.033; or, permission of instructor.

Reading list and schedule

Sign up on the Piazzza forum for this class! We'll use this forum for annoucements, Q&A, etc.

Lecture notes and presentations (requires MIT certificates)

Summary and Goals

Depending on who you talk to, cloud computing is either (i) a revolutionary idea that is rapidly changing the face of computing, or (ii) an old idea whose time has come, or (iii) just hype, or (iv) evil. What is clear, however, is that cloud computing systems run at a scale never seen before, and change the economics and assumptions behind computing in important, fundamental ways. The purpose of this seminar course is to understand the key technical ideas and concepts behind cloud computing systems, covering a broad range of topics:

• Cloud system architectures and what "X-as-a-service" means [X=infrastructure/platform/software]
• "Big data" storage and management
• Cloud programming frameworks
• Virtualization and resource management
• Security, privacy, lock-in, and other risks (and mitigations) for individuals and companies.
• Data center networks
• Energy use in data centers

Readings drawn from the research literature and technical white papers.

Evaluation