diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Vertex.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Vertex.java
index c52130d..26cb8d0 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Vertex.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Vertex.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.WritableComparable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.WritableUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskAttemptContext;
 
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameWriter;
@@ -35,7 +36,6 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.WritableSizable;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.util.BspUtils;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.util.JobStateUtils;
-import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.util.SerDeUtils;
 
 /**
  * User applications should all inherit {@link Vertex}, and implement their own
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@
             delegate.setVertex(this);
         }
         destEdgeList.clear();
-        long edgeMapSize = SerDeUtils.readVLong(in);
+        long edgeMapSize = WritableUtils.readVLong(in);
         for (long i = 0; i < edgeMapSize; ++i) {
             Edge<I, E> edge = allocateEdge();
             edge.setConf(getContext().getConfiguration());
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@
             addEdge(edge);
         }
         msgList.clear();
-        long msgListSize = SerDeUtils.readVLong(in);
+        long msgListSize = WritableUtils.readVLong(in);
         for (long i = 0; i < msgListSize; ++i) {
             M msg = allocateMessage();
             msg.readFields(in);
@@ -297,11 +297,11 @@
         if (vertexValue != null) {
             vertexValue.write(out);
         }
-        SerDeUtils.writeVLong(out, destEdgeList.size());
+        WritableUtils.writeVLong(out, destEdgeList.size());
         for (Edge<I, E> edge : destEdgeList) {
             edge.write(out);
         }
-        SerDeUtils.writeVLong(out, msgList.size());
+        WritableUtils.writeVLong(out, msgList.size());
         for (M msg : msgList) {
             msg.write(out);
         }
@@ -618,7 +618,6 @@
      * Terminate the current partition where the current vertex stays in.
      * This will immediately take effect and the upcoming vertice in the
      * same partition cannot be processed.
-     * 
      */
     protected final void terminatePartition() {
         voteToHalt();
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/SerDeUtils.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/SerDeUtils.java
index 25b07ff..a4336a3 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/SerDeUtils.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/SerDeUtils.java
@@ -40,47 +40,4 @@
         object.readFields(input);
     }
 
-    public static long readVLong(DataInput in) throws IOException {
-        int vLen = 0;
-        long value = 0L;
-        while (true) {
-            byte b = (byte) in.readByte();
-            ++vLen;
-            value += (((long) (b & 0x7f)) << ((vLen - 1) * 7));
-            if ((b & 0x80) == 0) {
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-        return value;
-    }
-
-    public static void writeVLong(DataOutput out, long value) throws IOException {
-        long data = value;
-        do {
-            byte b = (byte) (data & 0x7f);
-            data >>= 7;
-            if (data != 0) {
-                b |= 0x80;
-            }
-            out.write(b);
-        } while (data != 0);
-    }
-
-    public static long readVLong(byte[] data, int start, int length) {
-        int vLen = 0;
-        long value = 0L;
-        while (true) {
-            byte b = (byte) data[start];
-            ++vLen;
-            value += (((long) (b & 0x7f)) << ((vLen - 1) * 7));
-            if ((b & 0x80) == 0) {
-                break;
-            }
-            ++start;
-        }
-        if (vLen != length)
-            throw new IllegalStateException("length mismatch -- vLen:" + vLen + " length:" + length);
-        return value;
-    }
-
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/driver/Driver.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/driver/Driver.java
index 2d4064b..5325397 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/driver/Driver.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/driver/Driver.java
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@
 
     private void execute(DeploymentId deploymentId, JobSpecification job) throws Exception {
         job.setUseConnectorPolicyForScheduling(false);
+        job.setMaxReattempts(0);
         JobId jobId = hcc.startJob(deploymentId, job,
                 profiling ? EnumSet.of(JobFlag.PROFILE_RUNTIME) : EnumSet.noneOf(JobFlag.class));
         hcc.waitForCompletion(jobId);