Systems Core Courses

USENIX

Confessions of a Systems Engineer - Learning from My 20+ Years of Failure

Veteran systems engineer shares invaluable lessons from two decades of failures, offering insights on designing, running, and troubleshooting large-scale online services to help others avoid costly mistakes.

• YouTube
• 39 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Confessions of a Systems Engineer - Learning from My 20+ Years of Failure

Insights from a seasoned systems engineer on designing and running large-scale online services, drawing from 20+ years of failures and lessons learned in the tech industry.

• YouTube
• 39 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Lock It and Still Lose It - On the -In-Security of Automotive Remote Keyless Entry Systems

Unveils vulnerabilities in automotive remote keyless entry systems, demonstrating how attackers can exploit flaws to gain unauthorized access to vehicles from major manufacturers.

• YouTube
• 27 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Linux Systems Performance

Comprehensive overview of Linux systems performance, covering tools, methodologies, and techniques for analysis and tuning. Ideal for developers and sysadmins seeking to optimize Linux environments.

• YouTube
• 41 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Why Are Distributed Systems So Hard?

Explore distributed systems' challenges, from CAP theorem myths to network partitions. Learn consensus algorithms, system design for adaptability, and strategies to mitigate risks in distributed computing.

• YouTube
• 33 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Tracing Real-Time Distributed Systems

Exploring distributed tracing in real-time data streaming systems, focusing on challenges and solutions for trading platforms, including session tracking, data flow management, and storage optimization.

• YouTube
• 41 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

A Systems Approach to Safety and Cybersecurity

Explore systems thinking for safety and cybersecurity, integrating approaches to manage emergent properties and control problems in complex systems.

• YouTube
• 46 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Refining Systems Data without Losing Fidelity

Explore strategies for efficient systems data management, including sampling and aggregation techniques, to maintain crucial information while reducing data volume and costs.

• YouTube
• 35 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Building Blocks of Distributed Systems - Parts 1 & 2

Interactive class exploring orchestration, load balancing, databases, and storage in distributed systems. Covers key concepts and design principles for large data processing pipelines through collaborative exercises.

• YouTube
• 1 hour 23 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

What Breaks Our Systems - A Taxonomy of Black Swans

Explore categories of unforeseen, catastrophic system failures and strategies to fortify against them, including capacity testing, incident management, and communication.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

ScaleCheck - A Single-Machine Approach for Discovering Scalability Bugs in Large Distributed Systems

ScaleCheck: A novel approach for finding scalability bugs in large distributed systems using program analysis and colocation techniques, enabling testing at scale on a single commodity PC.

• YouTube
• 29 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

DistCache - Provable Load Balancing for Large-Scale Storage Systems with Distributed Caching

Innovative distributed caching mechanism providing provable load balancing for large-scale storage systems. Partitions hot objects and adaptively routes queries, enabling linear cache throughput increase with node count.

• YouTube
• 25 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

USENIX

Optimizing Systems for Byte-Addressable NVM by Reducing Bit Flipping

Optimizing data structures and memory allocation to reduce bit flipping in byte-addressable non-volatile memory, improving power efficiency and memory longevity without compromising performance.

• YouTube
• 29 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

Strange Loop Conference

Functional Distributed Systems Beyond Request - Response

Explore event-driven patterns for building composable, scalable, and resilient distributed systems, moving beyond traditional request/response models to simplify cloud-native architecture.

• YouTube
• 35 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk

Strange Loop Conference

Typing the Untyped - Soundness in Gradual Type Systems

Explore tradeoffs in gradual type systems for untyped languages, examining soundness vs. completeness in type refinement, array errors, and variance across different implementations.

• YouTube
• 37 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Conference Talk