- The AutoConf Website is Live! (June 2018)
Project Overview
Every day, people interact with complex software systems on their
mobile devices and in the cloud. Experts develop this software, but
they cannot account for all possible uses, so they make the software
configurable. In particular, most of these parameters affect
software's performance. These performance-related configuration
parameters are growing exponentially. Unfortunately, so is the
difficulty of setting them. Performance-related misconfigurations are
a leading cause of system failures (e.g., web services crashing) and
lag (e.g., delayed response to user requests). AutoConf studies
methods that automatically set performance-related configuration
parameters and eliminate these sources of failure in critical software
infrastructure.
To better understand and manage performance-related configurations,
AutoConf has four major research objectives. The first is studying
existing configuration parameters to understand why and when they lead
to failures. The second is designing a new interface where users set
high-level goals (in terms of desired performance) instead of specific
parameter values. The third is developing techniques that
automatically and dynamically configure software to meet these goals.
The final objective is constructing tools that ensure the interface's
proper usage to produce the desired behavior.
AutoConf will change the way users deploy
software. Instead of setting 100s of configuration parameters, they
will state their goals. AutoConf will automatically adjust
performance-related configurations to ensure the goals are met,
resulting in faster and more robust software deployment. Additionally,
the AutoConf project will create many research opportunities that will
be used to broaden participation in computer science.
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Publications
- AutoConf Publications will be posted here as the project progresses.
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Software
- Links to AutoConf software will be posted here as the project progresses.
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