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Week 10C

The document provides a comprehensive overview of the COMP9334 course on Capacity Planning of Computer Systems and Networks, detailing performance metrics, analysis techniques, and the importance of simulation in evaluating system performance. It also outlines the final exam details, including format, preparation guidelines, and policies. The course emphasizes the application of mathematical methods in designing efficient computer systems and networks.

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huangde1212
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52 views25 pages

Week 10C

The document provides a comprehensive overview of the COMP9334 course on Capacity Planning of Computer Systems and Networks, detailing performance metrics, analysis techniques, and the importance of simulation in evaluating system performance. It also outlines the final exam details, including format, preparation guidelines, and policies. The course emphasizes the application of mathematical methods in designing efficient computer systems and networks.

Uploaded by

huangde1212
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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COMP9334: Capacity Planning of

Computer Systems and Networks

Course Review and Exam Info

A/Prof Chun Tung Chou


CSE, UNSW

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024


System performance is important

Performance metrics: response time, waiting time,


throughput, availability

Performance is determined by:


Workload
System parameters

You can estimate system performance, without building


the actual system, by using queueing models

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 1


Performance analysis techniques (1)

Operational analysis (1B,2A)


Measurements on the systems
Operational laws, in particular Little’s Law
Key concept: Bottleneck
Upper bound on system performance

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 2


Performance analysis techniques (2)

Need to identify the inter-arrival and service time


distributions

Queues with Poisson arrival


Exponential service time (2B,3A)
Single or multiple servers: M/M/1 versus M/M/m
Infinite buffer or finite buffer: M/M/m versus
M/M/m/m+k

General service time distribution (4A,7A)


M/G/1. Key concept: residual service time
Priority queueing

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 3


Performance analysis techniques (3)

Closed queueing networks with exponential service


time
Markov chain analysis (3B)
Recipe: Identify states and transition rates; set up
balance equations; solve steady state probabilities;
determine performance

Mean value analysis (8A)


Iterative method
n = 0 jobs → n = 1 job → n = 2 jobs → ...

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 4


Performance analysis techniques: some key
points

No universal analytical methods


Analytical solutions are only available for specific
classes of queues
Upper bounds are only available for some general
classes of queues

Simulation can be used to determine general queueing


problems

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 5


Simulation (1)

How to do discrete event simulation?

How to generate random events according to the specific inter-


arrival time and service time distributions
Generating uniformly distributed pseudo-random numbers
The inverse transform method

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 6


Simulation (2)
Simulation is not just about writing correct simulation code (though
it is important), it is also important to do sound statistical analysis
on the simulation results obtained

Transient removal

Independent replications

Confidence interval

How to decide whether one system is better than the other using
confidence interval?
Paired observations: Paired-t confidence interval
Approximate visual test

Variance reduction method

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 7


Capacity planning and performance analysis
Solve the capacity planning problem by solving a number of
performance analysis problems

Example: Revision Problem: Week 3B, Question2

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 8


Applications of queueing (7A 2)

Some example applications


Determining a good multi-programming level
Power allocation in server farm
Server farm with set-up cost

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 9


Integer programming (1)

Linear programming (LP)


Real values for decision variables, linear in objective function,
linear in constraints

Integer programming (IP)


Some decision variables can only take integer values
Some decision variables can only take binary values, e.g. for
making yes-or-no decisions

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 10


Integer programming (2)

Applications of integer programming in network flow problems


Flow conservation constraints to ensure a unique path between
two nodes in the network

Example applications
Traffic engineering
Network design

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 11


Integer programming (3)

Applications of integer programming in placement problems


Placement of wireless access points
Placement of controllers in software-defined networks (revision
problem)

Power of binary variables


Restricted range of values
Either-or constraints
If-then constraints
Piecewise linear functions

Important to make the constraints linear

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 12


Summary

What you have learned through this course are fundamental


techniques that can be applied to design computer systems and
networks to have good performance
We hope you have gained some skills from this course
We hope you have been trained to be performance-minded

Due to the limited time and scope of this course, we cannot cover
all techniques that have been developed in this field

However, with the knowledge you have acquired from this course,
you should have the foundation to learn more ...

Mathematical methods can be applied to many different areas

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 13


Final exam
Fri 3 May 2024, 1:45-4pm (Sydney time)
2 hours and 15 minutes

In-person, invigilated, on campus

Exam uses the Inspera platform (more on this later)

Exam syllabus:
Not examined:
Weeks 4B, 5A, 5B 1, 5B 2: Discrete event simulation
Week 7A 2 which is a lecture based on technical papers
No questions on programming or AMPL
No extensive computation
All other topics are examinable

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 14


Final exam (cont.)

UNSW student code, which covers exam conducts, applies

This linked page covers the following aspects of the exam. (Note:
The page is also available at the course website under Week 10’s
lecture.)
Inspera (Device and OS requirements. How to prepare your
device for the exam.)
What you must bring, can bring and cannot bring to the exam
Open book

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 15


Answering questions in the final exam

Question aims to test understanding, not memorization


Style similar to revision problems, assignment and sample exam

Show your steps in your answer


If you only write the final answer, you won’t receive full marks
even if it is correct
You will receive marks for your steps
You can use the solution to revision problems as a guide as to
how much explanation you need

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 16


Inspera - a browser based exam platform
The exam will use Inspera (screen shot on next slide)

Should try to familiarise yourselves with the platform


This linked page, which is also mentioned on Page 15, points to
UNSW web pages on Inspera.
Practice using the sample exam

Answer is auto-saved. Your answers will be automatically


submitted at the end of the exam unless your Internet connection
is lost.

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 17


Screen shot of Inspera

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 18


Answer box and answer formatting
For COMP9334, all questions use the same type of Inspera answer box.

This applies to the sample exam and the actual exam.

I am more interested to know whether you understand the subject matter or not
Write and format in a way to help me to understand your idea
Although Inspera has a good editor, some maths formatting is optional, e.g.
OK to write p_{123} instead of p123, 10ˆ6 instead of 106, lambda instead of
λ etc.

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 19


Preparations for final exam
Make sure you understand all the concepts, techniques and
examples discussed in the lectures

Work through all the sample problems, assignment questions, etc


for practice

Sample exam on Moodle (more on this later)

Misconception: Open-book exam means no preparation required

Consultations: See course website under Timetable

Further questions
Post on Forum (Try to avoid last minute questions.)

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 20


Sample exam on Moodle
Accessible via the COMP9334 Moodle page

Most questions are based on past exams

Settings

Available from 2pm on 19 April 2024


You can access it multiple times
No time limit set - you can time yourselves if you wish

Do not submit because you will not be able to access it again after
you have submitted

A sample solution will be provided


COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 21
The cover page of the sample exam is almost the same as what
you will see in the exam
This is so that you know the instructions in advance

Note the ”Course Materials” link is at the bottom left hand corner,
see below. (Same for final exam.)

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 22


Exam policy

Exam policy
If you attend the exam, we assume that you are functioning well
on that day and will not offer you a supplementary exam.
In case you are not well on the day of the exam, get a medical
certificate and do not attend the exam.
If you fall ill during the exam, you should
Stop working on the exam.
Notify the invigilator and ask for instructions.
Get a doctor’s certificate and submit a special consideration.

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 23


Parting messages
Please complete the myExperience survey
Good/bad/more of this/less of that/what can be done better

This course is different from many CSE courses

Analytical and simulation methods are useful for many disciplines

This world needs people with multiple skills (hard and soft).
Important to find your talents and passions, but try to explore and
learn as many different areas as you can.

COMP9334, Chun Tung Chou, 2024 Page 24

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