BSc: Total Virtualization

Total virtualization

• Course name: Total virtualization
• Code discipline: ????
• Subject area:

Prerequisites

Prerequisite subjects

• CSE101
• СSE105
• CSE112 or CSE118 or CSE420
• CSE130 or CSE512 or CSE128
• 22 or CSE804 or CSE809 or CSE812

Prerequisite topics

• Basic programming skills.
• Software architecture
• Computer architecture
• Basics of Operating systems

Course Topics

Course Sections and Topics

Section	Topics within the section
Section 1	The need for virtualization: clouds, IaaS, DaaS, SaaS, PaaS. A virtualization introduction: basic terms, history CPU virtualization approaches: emulation, binary recompilation, stabbing, para-virtualization, hardware-assisted technologies Physical memory virtualization issues: compression, swap files, balloons Virtual paging, interrupts and devices, virtual video VM performance VM migration Introduction to containers Dockers
Section 2	IaaS: Resource distribution (memory, CPU) IaaS: Dynamic power management IaaS: Failovers and backups PaaS: a view from inside PaaS: a revolution driven by microservices Migrating to the cloud: cost, risks and deployment models, choice of cloud providers Security issues of clouds and virtualisation Cloud storages

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILOs defined at three levels

Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• Differ PaaS from IaaS and SaaS
• Explain the basic principles of virtualization
• Understand difference between containers and virtual machines
• Know criteria of choice between containers and virtual machines for different workloads
• Know memory management strategies and techniques
• Remember diffetent virtualization approaches
• Understand internals of PaaS and argue what is SaaS and what is PaaS

Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• Create a container based on cgroups interface
• Deploy an application into the cloud infrastructure
• Use PaaS API for debug and monitoring
• Tune performance of a virtual machine
• Estimate cost of public IaaS use vs on-premise deployment

Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• Make weighted and reasonable architectural choices in virtualization and cloud domain

Grading

Course grading range

Grade	Range	Description of performance
A. Excellent	80-100	-
B. Good	60-79	-
C. Satisfactory	40-59	-
D. Fail	0-39	-

Course activities and grading breakdown

Activity Type	Percentage of the overall course grade
Assignment/Labs	70
Final quiz	30

Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course

Participation is important. Showing up is the key to success in this course.
If you don’t have a corresponding technical background, please do not hesitate to ask lecturer. If you feel that the gap is deep, request for extra reading.
Reading the recommended literature is optional, and will give you a deeper understanding of the material.

Resources, literature and reference materials

Closed access resources

• Carl Waldspurger, Mendel Rosenblum, “I/O virtualization”, Communications of ACM, 2012

Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities

Activities and Teaching Methods

Teaching and Learning Methods within each section

Teaching Techniques	Section 1	Section 2
Problem-based learning (students learn by solving open-ended problems without a strictly-defined solution)	1	1
Project-based learning (students work on a project)	1	1
Modular learning (facilitated self-study)	1	1
Contextual learning (activities and tasks are connected to the real world to make it easier for students to relate to them);	1	1
Business game (learn by playing a game that incorporates the principles of the material covered within the course).	1	1

Activities within each section

Learning Activities	Section 1	Section 2
Lectures	1	1
Interactive Lectures	1	1
Lab exercises	1	1
Discussions	1	1
Written reports	1	1
Cases studies	0	1
Quizzes (written or computer based)	0	1
Simulations and role-plays	0	1

Formative Assessment and Course Activities

Ongoing performance assessment

Section 1

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Individual Assignments	A1: Find the response in Linux kernel source code? Find the VT-x virtualization loop. Specify related functions Find the PF handler	1

Section 2

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Quiz	1. Which type of virtualization would you recommend for the following workload? 2. Why SMP workload could be slow in virtual machines? 3. Which type of vulnerability is more “popular” for virtual machines then for containers?	1

Final assessment

Section 1

Section 2

The retake exam

Section 1

Section 2