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I am a senior researcher in the [Networking Research Group][NRG] at [Microsoft Research, Redmond][Microsoft Research]. I am interested in researching all aspects of the design and implementation of high-performance network automation tools with insights from verification, testing, anomaly detection, algorithms, and automata theory.
I graduated with a Ph.D. in [CS][CS@UCLA] from [UCLA] in 2022, advised by two amazing people, [Prof. Todd Millstein][Todd Millstein] and [Prof. George Varghese][George Varghese]. My Ph.D. research work was focused on using formal methods to improve the robustness of DNS. I have also worked on finding network (router) misconfigurations by automatic template inference during my Ph.D.
{% comment -%} I am a fifth year PhD candidate, in the [CS department][CS@UCLA] at [UCLA], where I am fortunate to be advised by two amazing people, [Prof. Todd Millstein][Todd Millstein] and [Prof. George Varghese][George Varghese]. I have background in networks, formal methods, and programming languages. I am interested in researching all aspects of the design and implementation of high-performance network automation tools with potential future applications to distributed systems. My approach combines insights from verification, testing, anomaly detection, algorithms, and automata theory.
I worked on finding network (router) misconfigurations by automatic template inference that resulted in a tool called [SelfStarter]({{ site.baseurl }}/projects/4-selfstarter) that was used in Microsoft. My current focus is on using formal methods to improve the robustness of DNS. My work, [GRoot: Proactive Verification of DNS Configurations]({{ site.baseurl }}/projects/5-groot), received a SIGCOMM best student paper award and was featured on the APNIC blog.
The recent work, [SCALE: Automatically Finding RFC Compliance Bugs in DNS Nameservers]({{ site.baseurl }}/projects/8-ferret) found a critical vulnerability in Bind where an attacker with little effort could crash Bind nameservers and resolvers remotely. SCALE was invited for an article in the USENIX ;login: magazine. DNS-OARC tweeted about the tool saying — “Incredible reception from the audience on @SivaKesavaRK presentation. The automation tool received great compliments from the DNS experts”
My research interests lie at the intersection of Networks and Programming Languages.
My work is focused on addressing the limitations in the current network verification technology - the lack of formal specifications, and a shallow application that is limited only to the routing layer. My research seeks to make it easier for operators to design, build, and maintain reliable distributed networks {%- endcomment -%}
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My projects in network verification have been in collaboration with [Ryan Beckett], [Behnaz Arzani] and [Karthick Jayaraman] from Microsoft. Our work, [GRoot: Proactive Verification of DNS Configurations]({{ site.baseurl }}/projects/5-groot), received a SIGCOMM best student paper award and has also been featured on the APNIC blog.
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Before UCLA happened, I was an undergraduate in the [CSE department][CS@IITKGP] at [IIT Kharagpur] where I was advised by [Prof. Sandip Chakraborty][Sandip Chakraborty] for my undergraduate thesis.
Click here for my Microsoft webpage.
Office: Microsoft Building 99, Redmond, WA
Email: sivakakarla microsoft com
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