OpenDaylight Lisboa Meetup Group

We had the first meetup of the OpenDaylight Lisboa meetup group in INESC-ID Lisboa. This is an introductory presentation I created for the meetup.

If you are in Lisbon area and interested in OpenDaylight and Software-Defined Networking, do join our meetup group. You may find a list of all the OpenDaylight user groups (ODLUG) here.

Composing Software-Defined Networks

We at Distributed Systems Group (GSD) of INESC-ID Lisboa have regular technical meetings, where we discuss some papers that we have published recently, or are going to publish in the near future. We also discuss some external research work that is interesting to the research group. Recently I presented Pyretic, a language for composing software-defined networking, with the help of the original video recordings. The complete video can be found below, explaining the language for a modular software-defined networking.

My profile at GSD/INESC-ID can be found at http://www.gsd.inesc-id.pt/~pradeeban/

MapReduce Implementations - Hazelcast Vs Infinispan

I was testing the MapReduce implementation of Hazlecast with the recent release of Hazelcast 3.2. Then I decided to compare the performance with the Infinispan 6.0.2 MapReduce implementation.

Infinispan outperforming Hazelcast MapReduce implementation

Infinispan outperformed Hazelcast in the sample MapReduce implementation tested on different scenarios, in a single instance, as shown by the figure. Infinispan still outperformed Hazelcast in the nodes up to 6.

Is Infinispan really faster than Hazelcast? Probably it is, as shown by scala-map-benchmarks. Probably, it is something to do with the scenarios, as discussed in Hazelcast group. However, this difference is huge, unlike the previous benchmarks. My opinion is, it is something to do with the still immature MapReduce implementation of Hazelcast, as Hazelcast proven to be quite effective for my other distributed execution tasks. 

If your use case is centred around the MapReduce implementation, I would suggest Infinispan over Hazelcast, as Hazelcast implementation is quite buggy as of 3.2. I have encountered 3 issues so far - a known issue #2105 that was reproduced during MapReduce executions and two other (probably MapReduce implementation specific) issues that I reported - #2354 (Update: This issue has been fixed for 3.2.2 and 3.3 versions of Hazlecast. Thanks Noctarius for attending to this) and #2359. Hazelcast MapReduce might turn to be more scalable and highly performing, once these issues are addressed.

It should be noted that the API of the initial roots of Hazelcast MapReduce implementation (code-named, CastMapR) was inspired heavily by that of the stable and matured MapReduce implementation of Infinispan. The Hazelcast word-count MapReduce example hence follows the same design of that from Infinispan.

I am using Hazelcast 3.2 and Infinispan 6.0.2 for my master thesis at INESC-ID Lisboa. Wait for more updates from the awesome Lisbon. ^_^


Note:
These results are part of the paper given below, which was published in 2014 December. Please cite the paper, if you used these results in your research work.
Kathiravelu, P. & L. Veiga (2014). An Adaptive Distributed Simulator for Cloud and MapReduce Algorithms and Architectures. In IEEE/ACM 7th International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC 2014), London, UK. pp. 79 – 88. IEEE Computer Society.

Building the next generation Cloud Simulator..

These days I spend most of my time building the distributed and concurrent cloud simulator. Lisbon is still rainy, though there were some good sunny days in between. Have a look at this complete list of current master thesis and doctoral dissertations from INESC-ID (including mine. :) ) . Previous years' dissertations also can be found using the drop-down option. An interesting collection!

Lisbon, once more..

I cooked this wonderful Turkey meat curry

I realized, I didn't blog about my Erasmus Mundus adventures for a long time. This becomes the first post of the new year on my personal life in Lisboa. In fact, I had many interesting updates, where I didn't have time to sit and write them down. I came back to Lisbon on the 30th of December, after an eventful journey around the Nordic countries, using flight, cruise, trains, and trams. The new year celebrations in Lisbon reminded me the new year of 2013, as this was the second new year I had in Lisbon commercial square. I have started to work on my thesis, from INESC-ID, developing the distributed and concurrent cloud simulator. In the mean time, I enjoyed the second winter event of EMDC in Evora, Portugal.

Working from a cafe!

After a productive day at InescID, I was at a cafe next to SEF, metro station Parque. I opened my laptop and continued developing the next generation cloud simulator, whilst sipping the coffee. The gentleman at the cashier asked me something in Portuguese. I thought he was saying, "are you crazy or what?". I said, "sorry?" He asked me again in English, "Do you need the Internet connection?" AAAAAND BOOM.. I AM IN TEH INTERWEBS.. And the cafe has a much stronger internet than my room in the apartment. Long live the cafe, and the gentleman who gave me the access to the wifi, without even me asking. Probably you may see me around metro station Parque more often..

物是人非

..and this strawberry milk shake.. :D

These days I often go to the "Community Canteen" of Instituto Superior Técnico Alameda to have a meal for 2.40 Euro, for either lunch or dinner. I realized, I miss the moments I had with my friends in Lisboa.. (Xiao's small talks, Qi Qi's questions, Zell's drawings, Orçun's slow-paced eating (which is slower than mine), discussing Romanian music with Tamás, Dipesh's vegetables, and Pushparaj's lunch box full of chillies.. :D) Lisbon is full of memories for me. I saw a few familiar faces in the Canteen. But apart from that, I am mostly alone in the canteen. Memories define a place. For me, Lisbon is full of memories. I guess, there is a memory - location - people mapping. I will definitely miss the time I spent in Stockholm with the friends, when I go to Stockholm one day in the future. Without you guys around, Lisbon is not the same. Qi Qi says, this feeling is called 物是人非 in Chinese. Hope all of you guys have started your thesis in different corners of Europe..

Lisbon - Weeks 7 & 8

oh, I am becoming a loyal customer of Pingo Doce.. ;)

[17/10/2012] - This fortnight went pretty fast. Probably, I am feeling so, because we are getting familiar with the lectures, the campuses, and Lisbon. 

Life at Técnico

We have two days lectures at Alameda, and two days at Taguspark. However, we feel more attached to Taguspark, as we spend more time there, where we just return home during the lunch breaks at Alameda. Returning to our apartment is not an option for Taguspark. Moreover, the shuttle travel is pretty interesting. I joined INESC-ID on the 9th of October. We got some interesting tasks to do. We got the access to campus Fenix site, and received the student identity cards, along with an email address. Portuguese classes have started at IST. It will be 40 hours, with 2.5 hrs a lesson, with 2/3 lessons a week, followed by a final exam. Seems it will be interesting.

Central Mosque of Lisboa

Mosque Visit

I have gone to many religious places including the Hindu temples, Buddhist temples, Christian and Catholic churches, and Sikh Gurudwaras. But this was my first time to go to an Islamic place of worship. The Central Mosque of Lisbon (Mesquita Central De Lisboa) is situated at S. Sebastiao, the end of red line. We loved the mosque and the environment. It was remarkable.

Life as an exchange student
Moving to another country, as an exchange student or otherwise, gives an additional advantage. It gives you a chance to change your habits. Probably, you can overcome your addictions, or simply start a life with new paradigms there. For example, you may be a night owl in your home country, and in the host country, you may be able to overcome that habit pretty easily. We can always consider the positive effects of this.

Bairro Alto

Night skyline at Bairro Alto

Bairro Alto comes to life in the night. It is where the youths of Lisbon come for a road side beer, to stay on the roads for the entire night, talking to random strangers. This place is ideal to break ice with guys and girls, from different countries. As the famous Erasmus Corner and the related bars are located in this area, this place is always full of exchange students. Chances are high for you to meet a national of your country, if you regularly pay a visit here. We had our dinner at an Indian restaurant located here, followed by a long night over the roads of Bairro Alto.

Statue of poet António Ribeiro, the "Chiado", in the Chiado Square in the night.

It is rainy days here. We are already given the project topics for the modules. oh, and just noticed how clearly Google Maps shows my apartment. :) These days may be good, bad, busy, boring, fun, confused, tiresome, sleepless, or whatever. but are surely remarkable and unforgettable. :) vê-lo na próxima semana!