Guidelines for the project proposal: Project proposal is due on Oct 24, by midnight. The proposal will be graded and should include (i) a description of the problem, (ii) the motivation for the problem (e.g., why is the problem interesting, why is it challenging, who will benefit from a solution to the problem, etc.), (iii) your initial ideas on how to attack the problem, and (iv) a brief discussion of previous work related to this problem. There is no page limit for the proposal.

Further Readings

Flash Memory in Database Systems

• Communications of the ACM article on Flash Storage Memory.
• FlashDB: Dynamic Self-tuning Database for NAND Flash.
• A Case for Flash Memory SSD in Enterprise Database Applications.

Query Optimization in Database Systems

• Guy Lohman's talk on Self-Managing DB2 with an overview of their recent work on query optimization.
• The Picasso project and a related paper.
• As we discussed in class, the goals of query optimization have changed over the years. Here is a paper on robust query optimization.
• The following paper is the first technical paper on the LEO system that Volker Markl talked about. Michael Stillger, Guy M. Lohman, Volker Markl, Mokhtar Kandil: LEO - DB2's LEarning Optimizer. Available here. A new and improved version of this paper is available here.
• A less technical, but more forward looking paper, on the LEO project appeared in the IBM Systems Journal. Available here.

Adaptive Query Processing in Database Systems

• A recent paper on changing query plans if a problem is detected when a query is running: Volker Markl, Vijayshankar Raman, David E. Simmen, Guy M. Lohman, Hamid Pirahesh: Robust Query Processing through Progressive Optimization. Available here.
• An attempt by Shivnath and colleagues to correct some problems with the above approach: Proactive Re-optimization.

Query Execution in Database Systems

• A paper on Interaction-Aware Query Processing and Scheduling.
• A paper on query suspension and resumption.
• A paper on estimating time to completion of a query plan.

Data Stream Systems

• Two recent projects on building data stream management systems: STREAM and Aurora. Here are two overview papers: from STREAM and from Aurora.
• Adaptive query processing in a data stream management system. Shivnath's slides on adaptive query processing and an overview paper.
• Work on load shedding which gracefully tackles high stream arrival rates by reducing the accuracy of query results: paper 1, paper 2, paper 3.

Configuration of Database Systems: Physical Design (e.g., Indexes and Materialized Views))

• Guy Lohman's talk on Self-Managing DB2 with an overview of their recent work on automated database configuration. Some papers on their work on automated selection of indexes and materialized views: Overview paper, paper 2 (slides).
• The AutoAdmin project at Microsoft Research. An overview of their recent work on automated database configuration. Other related papers from this group: paper 1, paper 2.
• A recent study of index design advisors, and the project page.

Configuration of Database Systems: Resources and Configuration Parameters

• A paper from IBM on automated configuration of application servers.
• A paper on our project at Duke on Active and Accelerated Learning of Cost Models for Optimizing Scientific Applications; with extensions to web services, database servers, storage servers, etc.
• IBM DB2's Configuration Advisor.

Databases + Information Retrieval (DB+IR)

• A paper on Google's system architecture. The paper is outdated, but the basic principles remain.
• Some papers from IBM on the DB+IR problem: paper 1, paper 2.

Self-Healing Database Systems

• A paper from Oracle on quick identification of performance problems.
• Work from IBM on automated scheduling of statistics updates for DB2: paper 1, paper 2 (a non-technical article).
• A paper from IBM on identifying distinct symptoms for different causes of DB2 failures.

Project Resources