The doctoral dissertations of the former Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) and Aalto University Schools of Technology (CHEM, ELEC, ENG, SCI) published in electronic format are available in the electronic publications archive of Aalto University - Aaltodoc.
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Data Availability in Challenging Networking Environments in Presence of Failures

Mikko Pitkänen

Doctoral dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Science in Technology to be presented with due permission of the Faculty of Electronics, Communications and Automation for public examination and debate in Auditorium S1 at the Aalto University School of Science and Technology (Espoo, Finland) on the 14th of January 2011 at 12 noon.

Overview in PDF format (ISBN 978-952-60-3508-6)   [1813 KB]
Dissertation is also available in print (ISBN 978-952-60-3507-9)

Abstract

This Doctoral thesis presents research on improving data availability in challenging networking environments where failures frequently occur. The thesis discusses the data retrieval and transfer mechanisms in challenging networks such as the Grid and the delay-tolerant networking (DTN). The Grid concept has gained adaptation as a solution to high-performance computing challenges that are faced in international research collaborations. Challenging networking is a novel research area in communications.

The first part of the thesis introduces the challenges of data availability in environment where resources are scarce. The focus is especially on the challenges faced in the Grid and in the challenging networking scenarios. A literature overview is given to explain the most important research findings and the state of the standardization work in the field.

The experimental part of the thesis consists of eight scientific publications and explains how they contribute to research in the field. Focus in on explaining how data transfer mechanisms have been improved from the application and networking layer points of views. Experimental methods for the Grid scenarios comprise of running a newly developed storage application on the existing research infrastructure. A network simulator is extended for the experimentation with challenging networking mechanisms in a network formed by mobile users. The simulator enables to investigate network behavior with a large number of nodes, and with conditions that are difficult to re-instantiate.

As a result, recommendations are given for data retrieval and transfer design for the Grid and mobile networks. These recommendations can guide both system architects and application developers in their work. In the case of the Grid research, the results give first indications on the applicability of the erasure correcting codes for data storage and retrieval with the existing Grid data storage tools. In the case of the challenging networks, the results show how an application-aware communication approach can be used to improve data retrieval and communications. Recommendations are presented to enable efficient transfer and management of data items that are large compared to available resources.

This thesis consists of an overview and of the following 8 publications:

  1. Mikko Pitkänen, Rim Moussa, Martin Swany, and Tapio Niemi. 2006. Erasure codes for increasing the availability of grid data storage. In: Proceedings of the Advanced International Conference on Telecommunications and International Conference on Internet and Web Applications and Services (AICT/ICIW 2006). Guadeloupe. 19-25 February 2006. Pages 185-194. ISBN 0-7695-2522-9. © 2006 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). By permission.
  2. Mikko Pitkänen, Juho Karppinen, and Martin Swany. 2006. GridBlocks DISK - distributed inexpensive storage with K-availability. In: Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing (HPDC 2006) Workshop on Next-Generation Distributed Data Management. Paris, France. 20 June 2006. Pages 1-6. © 2006 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). By permission.
  3. Jörg Ott and Mikko Juhani Pitkänen. 2007. DTN-based content storage and retrieval. In: Proceedings of the First IEEE WoWMoM Workshop on Autonomic and Opportunistic Communications (AOC 2007). Helsinki, Finland. 18 June 2007. Pages 1-7. ISBN 978-1-4244-0993-8. © 2007 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). By permission.
  4. Mikko Juhani Pitkänen and Jörg Ott. 2007. Redundancy and distributed caching in mobile DTNs. In: Proceedings of the 2nd ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Mobility in the Evolving Internet Architecture (MobiArch 2007). Kyoto, Japan. 27 August 2007. New York, NY, USA. ACM. Article No. 8. Pages 1-7. ISBN 978-1-59593-784-8.
  5. Mikko Juhani Pitkänen and Jörg Ott. 2008. Enabling opportunistic storage for mobile DTNs. Pervasive and Mobile Computing, volume 4, number 5, pages 579-594.
  6. Mikko Pitkänen, Ari Keränen, and Jörg Ott. 2008. Message fragmentation in opportunistic DTNs. In: Proceedings of the Second IEEE WoWMoM Workshop on Autonomic and Opportunistic Communications (AOC 2008). Newport Beach, California, USA. 23 June 2008. Pages 1-7. ISBN 978-1-4244-2099-5. © 2008 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). By permission.
  7. Mikko Pitkänen, Teemu Kärkkäinen, Janico Greifenberg, and Jörg Ott. 2009. Searching for content in mobile DTNs. In: Proceedings of the 7th Annual IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom 2009). Galveston, Texas, USA. 9-13 March 2009. Pages 1-10. ISBN 978-1-4244-3304-9. © 2009 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). By permission.
  8. Mikko Pitkänen, Teemu Kärkkäinen, and Jörg Ott. 2010. Opportunistic web access via WLAN hotspots. In: Proceedings of the 8th Annual IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom 2010). Mannheim, Germany. 29 March - 2 April 2010. Pages 20-30. ISBN 978-1-4244-5329-0. © 2010 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). By permission.

Keywords: data availability, Grid, failure tolerance, challenged networks, delay-tolerant networking

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© 2011 Aalto University

Last update 2011-05-26