Paul Brett - Published Papers & Patents

Dynamic virtual machine generation

Abstract Methods and apparatuses enable creation of a virtual machine (VM) clone initiated through application or service logic. The application requests generation of a VM clone from within the runtime execution of the application. The request is serviced by a VM generator, which identifies a state of the VM to clone and identifies hardware resources on which to create the VM clone. Based on a determination of what resources on which to generate the VM clone, the VM generator creates the VM clone on the determined resources, having the identified state....

Provider presence information with load factor

Abstract In some embodiments, a system includes a service provider having a memory and a processor coupled to each other. The service provider is adapted to provide at least one service instance. A presence generating program is adapted to be located in the memory and the processor adapted to execute the presence generating program to generate provider presence information, with the provider presence information including a provider status. A load monitoring program, in communication with the service provider, generates at least one load factor in response to monitoring the at least one service instance....

Virtualization In The Enterprise

Abstract We present how an enterprise IT organization sees virtualization in the enterprise and how it can be applied. We look at key enterprise services and applications used within Intel^®^\’s IT department and examine the issues associated with virtualizing servers within the context of those services. We demonstrate that virtual machine (VM) isolation does not extend to performance isolation as we show how applications running in separate VMs can significantly interfere with each other....

Monitoring Internet Connectivity using PlanetLab

Abstract This paper explores one company’s use of PlanetLab for a real application. Intel Corporation is a global enterprise with many Internet “DMZs” and thousands of customers around the world who use them. Intel needs to monitor the quality of service received through these Internet connections from many parts of the world. Doing this with available commercial services or by implementing monitoring systems in rented data center space across the globe would be expensive as well as being relatively inflexible....

Scalable Management

Abstract Modern computing environments, such as enterprise data centers, Grids, and PlanetLab, introduce distributed services to address scalability, locality, and reliability. Web Services (WS), in particular, improve decoupling, decentralization, and autonomicity within distributed systems. Unfortunately, scale and decentralization introduce additional problems in distributed services management, such as deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle maintenance. In this paper, we propose a new approach to management of large scale distributed services, based on three artifacts: scalable publish-subscribe eventing, scalable WS-based deployment, and model-based management....

A Shared Global Event Propagation And Storage System To Enable Next-Generation Distributed Services

Abstract The construction of highly reliable planetary-scale distributed services in the unreliable Internet environment entails significant challenges. Our research focuses on the use of loose binding among service components as a means to deploy distributed services at scale. An event-based publish/subscribe messaging infrastructure is the principal means through which we implement loose binding. A unique property of the messaging infrastructure is that it is built on a collection of off-the-shelf instant messaging servers running on PlanetLab....

Securing the PlanetLab Distributed Testbed: How to Manage Security in an Environment with No Firewalls, with All Users Having Root, and No Direct Physical Control of Any System

Abstract PlanetLab is a globally distributed network of hosts designed to support the deployment and evaluation of planetary scale applications. Support for planetary applications development poses several security challenges to the team maintaining PlanetLab. The planetary nature of Planetlab mandates nodes distributed across the globe, far from the physical control of the team. The application development requirements force every user to have access to the equivalent of root on each machine, and use of firewalls is discouraged....

About

By day, Paul Brett works in Silicon valley developing machine learning technology at a global scale. In his spare time, Paul is an avid photographer who has been shooting predominantly fine art photography for the last few years, with an emphasis on the capturing the subject in their environment. Always looking for models to collaborate with to stretch his creative boundaries, he takes his work (and the models) seriously, and ask for the same level of commitment in return....