CAREER: Rethinking Configuration Management for Cloud and Datacenter Systems

配置管理是现代云/数据中心系统管理的重要组成部分。许多关键操作会更新生产系统配置（例如，性能调优和功能推出）。如今，大规模云和互联网服务发展迅速，每天都有数百到数千个配置更改。在高速变化的情况下，错误的配置变化不可避免地成为系统故障和服务中断的主要原因，从而导致灾难性的影响。该项目旨在(1)开发新颖实用的技术来解决现有技术的关键问题，以及(2)探索全新的系统设计以防止配置问题。该项目将基于四个协同研究重点，为云系统配置管理开发科学基础、新方法、技术和实用工具。首先，它将建立配置测试的基础，这是当前配置管理中缺失的一个关键部分。其次，它将开发新颖、实用的配置测试技术，以防止导致故障的配置更改。第三，它将解决静态配置验证的关键问题，即事实上的部署前保护。第四，它将探索新的配置设计，使系统能够有效地从错误配置和新接口中修复和恢复，以显著提高配置可管理性并减少错误配置。该项目将成为伊利诺伊大学云计算、计算机系统和软件工程多学科研究和教育的催化剂。它将通过设计新的跨学科课程和改进现有课程来扩大课程范围。该项目致力于扩大计算机领域的参与，并将吸引本科生和代表性不足的学生参与研究。这个项目将对工业产生重大影响。实际应用中的组态技术往往不足，部分原因是缺乏研究基础和严谨系统的技术。该项目的行业合作将有助于推动实际解决方案并将其转化为实践。该项目将成为开放科学的有力倡导者。它将使研究工件公开可访问、可复制和可靠，包括软件原型、数据集、评估工件和脚本，以及研究结果。所有研究文物将在整个项目期间得到积极维护，并将在项目结束后一年的禁运期和任何延期后开放。该项目将有一个索引页（illicon图.github.io）来帮助浏览所有的研究工件，并且存储库将使用伊利诺伊大学的工程信息技术服务持续备份。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Configuration management is an integral part of modern cloud/datacenter system management. Many critical operations update production system configurations (e.g., performance tuning and feature rollout). Today, large-scale cloud and Internet services evolve rapidly, with hundreds to thousands of configuration changes daily. With the high velocity of changes, faulty configuration changes inevitably become major causes of system failures and service outages, leading to catastrophic impacts. This project aims to (1) develop novel, practical technologies to address key problems of existing techniques, and (2) explore radically new system designs to prevent configuration problems. The project will develop scientific foundations, new methodologies, techniques, and practical tools for cloud system configuration management, based on four synergistic research thrusts. First, it will establish the foundation of configuration testing, a key missing piece of configuration management today. Second, it will develop novel, practical configuration testing techniques to prevent failure-inducing configuration changes. Third, it will address the key problems of static configuration validation, the de facto pre-deployment protection. Fourth, it will explore new configuration designs that enable systems effectively to repair and recover from faulty configurations and new interfaces to advance configuration manageability significantly and reduce misconfigurations.The project will be a catalyst for multidisciplinary research and education on cloud computing, computer systems, and software engineering at the University of Illinois. It will expand course offerings by designing new interdisciplinary courses and by enhancing existing courses. The project is committed to broadening participation in computing and will engage undergraduate and under-represented students in research. The project will have major impacts on industry. The configuration technologies in practice are often insufficient, partially due to a lack of research foundation and rigorous, systematic techniques. The project’s industry collaboration will help drive practical solutions and transition them into practice.The project will be a strong advocate for open science. It will make the research artifacts openly accessible, reproducible, and reliable, including software prototypes, datasets, evaluation artifacts and scripts, and research results. All research artifacts will be actively maintained throughout the project period and will be accessible after an embargo period of one year past the conclusion of the project and any extensions. The project will have an index page (illiconfig.github.io) to help navigate all the research artifacts and the repositories will be backed up continuously using the Engineering Information Technology service at the University of Illinois.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.