diff --git a/pregelix/pom.xml b/pregelix/pom.xml
index 4b6a968..7d08fb7 100644
--- a/pregelix/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pom.xml
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>2.13</version>
         <configuration>
             <forkMode>pertest</forkMode>
             <argLine>-enableassertions -Djava.util.logging.config.file=${user.home}/logging.properties -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,address=8000,suspend=n ${jvm.extraargs}</argLine>
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-changelog-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>2.2</version>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </reporting>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-api/pom.xml
index 66a0186..2caa93b 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/pom.xml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.5</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<filesets>
 						<fileset>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Edge.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Edge.java
index 4af35fe..e5f42fe 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Edge.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/Edge.java
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
     private E edgeValue = null;
     /** Configuration - Used to instantiate classes */
     private Configuration conf = null;
-    /** Whether the edgeValue field is not null*/
+    /** Whether the edgeValue field is not null */
     private boolean hasEdgeValue = false;
 
     /**
@@ -115,8 +115,9 @@
         destVertexId.readFields(input);
         hasEdgeValue = input.readBoolean();
         if (hasEdgeValue) {
-            if (edgeValue == null)
+            if (edgeValue == null) {
                 edgeValue = (E) BspUtils.createEdgeValue(getConf());
+            }
             edgeValue.readFields(input);
         }
     }
@@ -128,8 +129,9 @@
         }
         destVertexId.write(output);
         output.writeBoolean(hasEdgeValue);
-        if (hasEdgeValue)
+        if (hasEdgeValue) {
             edgeValue.write(output);
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/MsgList.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/MsgList.java
index 734b1af..8d3d4c6 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/MsgList.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/MsgList.java
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
  */
 public class MsgList<M extends Writable> extends ArrayListWritable<M> {
     /** Defining a layout version for a serializable class. */
-    private static final long serialVersionUID = 100L;
+    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
 
     /**
      * Default constructor.s
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 6856e9a..b7f9e3d 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
@@ -142,45 +142,6 @@
         usedValue = 0;
     }
 
-    private Edge<I, E> allocateEdge() {
-        Edge<I, E> edge;
-        if (usedEdge < edgePool.size()) {
-            edge = edgePool.get(usedEdge);
-            usedEdge++;
-        } else {
-            edge = new Edge<I, E>();
-            edgePool.add(edge);
-            usedEdge++;
-        }
-        return edge;
-    }
-
-    private M allocateMessage() {
-        M message;
-        if (usedMessage < msgPool.size()) {
-            message = msgPool.get(usedEdge);
-            usedMessage++;
-        } else {
-            message = BspUtils.<M> createMessageValue(getContext().getConfiguration());
-            msgPool.add(message);
-            usedMessage++;
-        }
-        return message;
-    }
-
-    private V allocateValue() {
-        V value;
-        if (usedValue < valuePool.size()) {
-            value = valuePool.get(usedEdge);
-            usedValue++;
-        } else {
-            value = BspUtils.<V> createVertexValue(getContext().getConfiguration());
-            valuePool.add(value);
-            usedValue++;
-        }
-        return value;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Set the vertex id
      * 
@@ -201,60 +162,24 @@
     }
 
     /**
-     * Set the global superstep for all the vertices (internal use)
+     * Get the vertex value
      * 
-     * @param superstep
-     *            New superstep
+     * @return the vertex value
      */
-    public static void setSuperstep(long superstep) {
-        Vertex.superstep = superstep;
-    }
-
-    public static long getCurrentSuperstep() {
-        return superstep;
-    }
-
-    public final long getSuperstep() {
-        return superstep;
-    }
-
     public final V getVertexValue() {
         return vertexValue;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Set the vertex value
+     * 
+     * @param vertexValue
+     */
     public final void setVertexValue(V vertexValue) {
         this.vertexValue = vertexValue;
         this.updated = true;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Set the total number of vertices from the last superstep.
-     * 
-     * @param numVertices
-     *            Aggregate vertices in the last superstep
-     */
-    public static void setNumVertices(long numVertices) {
-        Vertex.numVertices = numVertices;
-    }
-
-    public final long getNumVertices() {
-        return numVertices;
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Set the total number of edges from the last superstep.
-     * 
-     * @param numEdges
-     *            Aggregate edges in the last superstep
-     */
-    public static void setNumEdges(long numEdges) {
-        Vertex.numEdges = numEdges;
-    }
-
-    public final long getNumEdges() {
-        return numEdges;
-    }
-
     /***
      * Send a message to a specific vertex
      * 
@@ -309,6 +234,7 @@
         vertexId.readFields(in);
         delegate.setVertexId(vertexId);
         boolean hasVertexValue = in.readBoolean();
+
         if (hasVertexValue) {
             vertexValue = allocateValue();
             vertexValue.readFields(in);
@@ -352,12 +278,6 @@
         out.writeBoolean(halt);
     }
 
-    private boolean addEdge(Edge<I, E> edge) {
-        edge.setConf(getContext().getConfiguration());
-        destEdgeList.add(edge);
-        return true;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Get the list of incoming messages
      * 
@@ -376,14 +296,7 @@
         return this.destEdgeList;
     }
 
-    public final Mapper<?, ?, ?, ?>.Context getContext() {
-        return context;
-    }
-
-    public final static void setContext(Mapper<?, ?, ?, ?>.Context context) {
-        Vertex.context = context;
-    }
-
+    @Override
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public String toString() {
         Collections.sort(destEdgeList);
@@ -396,37 +309,236 @@
         return "Vertex(id=" + getVertexId() + ",value=" + getVertexValue() + ", edges=" + edgeBuffer + ")";
     }
 
-    public void setOutputWriters(List<IFrameWriter> writers) {
-        delegate.setOutputWriters(writers);
-    }
-
-    public void setOutputAppenders(List<FrameTupleAppender> appenders) {
-        delegate.setOutputAppenders(appenders);
-    }
-
-    public void setOutputTupleBuilders(List<ArrayTupleBuilder> tbs) {
-        delegate.setOutputTupleBuilders(tbs);
-    }
-
-    public void finishCompute() throws IOException {
-        delegate.finishCompute();
-    }
-
-    public boolean hasUpdate() {
-        return this.updated;
-    }
-
-    public boolean hasMessage() {
-        return this.hasMessage;
-    }
-
+    /**
+     * Get the number of outgoing edges
+     * 
+     * @return the number of outging edges
+     */
     public int getNumOutEdges() {
         return destEdgeList.size();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     * 
+     * @param writers
+     */
+    public void setOutputWriters(List<IFrameWriter> writers) {
+        delegate.setOutputWriters(writers);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     * 
+     * @param writers
+     */
+    public void setOutputAppenders(List<FrameTupleAppender> appenders) {
+        delegate.setOutputAppenders(appenders);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     * 
+     * @param writers
+     */
+    public void setOutputTupleBuilders(List<ArrayTupleBuilder> tbs) {
+        delegate.setOutputTupleBuilders(tbs);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     * 
+     * @param writers
+     */
+    public void finishCompute() throws IOException {
+        delegate.finishCompute();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     */
+    public boolean hasUpdate() {
+        return this.updated;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     */
+    public boolean hasMessage() {
+        return this.hasMessage;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * sort the edges
+     */
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public void sortEdges() {
-        Collections.sort((List) destEdgeList);
+        Collections.sort(destEdgeList);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Allocate a new edge from the edge pool
+     */
+    private Edge<I, E> allocateEdge() {
+        Edge<I, E> edge;
+        if (usedEdge < edgePool.size()) {
+            edge = edgePool.get(usedEdge);
+            usedEdge++;
+        } else {
+            edge = new Edge<I, E>();
+            edgePool.add(edge);
+            usedEdge++;
+        }
+        return edge;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Allocate a new message from the message pool
+     */
+    private M allocateMessage() {
+        M message;
+        if (usedMessage < msgPool.size()) {
+            message = msgPool.get(usedEdge);
+            usedMessage++;
+        } else {
+            message = BspUtils.<M> createMessageValue(getContext().getConfiguration());
+            msgPool.add(message);
+            usedMessage++;
+        }
+        return message;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set the global superstep for all the vertices (internal use)
+     * 
+     * @param superstep
+     *            New superstep
+     */
+    public static final void setSuperstep(long superstep) {
+        Vertex.superstep = superstep;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Add an outgoing edge into the vertex
+     * 
+     * @param edge
+     *            the edge to be added
+     * @return true if the edge list changed as a result of this call
+     */
+    public boolean addEdge(Edge<I, E> edge) {
+        edge.setConf(getContext().getConfiguration());
+        return destEdgeList.add(edge);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * remove an outgoing edge in the graph
+     * 
+     * @param edge
+     *            the edge to be removed
+     * @return true if the edge is in the edge list of the vertex
+     */
+    public boolean removeEdge(Edge<I, E> edge) {
+        return destEdgeList.remove(edge);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Add a new vertex into the graph
+     * 
+     * @param vertexId the vertex id
+     * @param vertex the vertex
+     */
+    public final void addVertex(I vertexId, V vertex) {
+        delegate.addVertex(vertexId, vertex);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Delete a vertex from id
+     * 
+     * @param vertexId  the vertex id
+     */
+    public final void deleteVertex(I vertexId) {
+        delegate.deleteVertex(vertexId);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Allocate a vertex value from the object pool
+     * 
+     * @return a vertex value instance
+     */
+    private V allocateValue() {
+        V value;
+        if (usedValue < valuePool.size()) {
+            value = valuePool.get(usedValue);
+            usedValue++;
+        } else {
+            value = BspUtils.<V> createVertexValue(getContext().getConfiguration());
+            valuePool.add(value);
+            usedValue++;
+        }
+        return value;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the current global superstep number
+     * 
+     * @return the current superstep number
+     */
+    public static final long getSuperstep() {
+        return superstep;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set the total number of vertices from the last superstep.
+     * 
+     * @param numVertices
+     *            Aggregate vertices in the last superstep
+     */
+    public static final void setNumVertices(long numVertices) {
+        Vertex.numVertices = numVertices;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the number of vertexes in the graph
+     * 
+     * @return the number of vertexes in the graph
+     */
+    public static final long getNumVertices() {
+        return numVertices;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set the total number of edges from the last superstep.
+     * 
+     * @param numEdges
+     *            Aggregate edges in the last superstep
+     */
+    public static void setNumEdges(long numEdges) {
+        Vertex.numEdges = numEdges;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the number of edges from this graph
+     * 
+     * @return the number of edges in the graph
+     */
+    public static final long getNumEdges() {
+        return numEdges;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     */
+    public static final Mapper<?, ?, ?, ?>.Context getContext() {
+        return context;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Pregelix internal use only
+     * 
+     * @param context
+     */
+    public static final void setContext(Mapper<?, ?, ?, ?>.Context context) {
+        Vertex.context = context;
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/VertexDelegate.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/VertexDelegate.java
index 7267f30..d949bc5 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/VertexDelegate.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/graph/VertexDelegate.java
@@ -44,6 +44,16 @@
     private IFrameWriter aliveWriter;
     private FrameTupleAppender appenderAlive;
 
+    /** the tuple for insert */
+    private ArrayTupleBuilder insertTb;
+    private IFrameWriter insertWriter;
+    private FrameTupleAppender appenderInsert;
+
+    /** the tuple for insert */
+    private ArrayTupleBuilder deleteTb;
+    private IFrameWriter deleteWriter;
+    private FrameTupleAppender appenderDelete;
+
     /** message list */
     private MsgList dummyMessageList = new MsgList();
     /** whether alive message should be pushed out */
@@ -95,25 +105,57 @@
         this.vertexId = vertexId;
     }
 
+    public final void addVertex(I vertexId, V vertex) {
+        try {
+            insertTb.reset();
+            DataOutput outputInsert = insertTb.getDataOutput();
+            vertexId.write(outputInsert);
+            insertTb.addFieldEndOffset();
+            vertex.write(outputInsert);
+            insertTb.addFieldEndOffset();
+            FrameTupleUtils.flushTuple(appenderInsert, insertTb, insertWriter);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public final void deleteVertex(I vertexId) {
+        try {
+            deleteTb.reset();
+            DataOutput outputDelete = deleteTb.getDataOutput();
+            vertexId.write(outputDelete);
+            deleteTb.addFieldEndOffset();
+            FrameTupleUtils.flushTuple(appenderDelete, deleteTb, deleteWriter);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
     public final void setOutputWriters(List<IFrameWriter> outputs) {
         msgWriter = outputs.get(0);
-        if (outputs.size() > 1) {
-            aliveWriter = outputs.get(1);
+        insertWriter = outputs.get(1);
+        deleteWriter = outputs.get(2);
+        if (outputs.size() > 3) {
+            aliveWriter = outputs.get(outputs.size() - 1);
             pushAlive = true;
         }
     }
 
     public final void setOutputAppenders(List<FrameTupleAppender> appenders) {
         appenderMsg = appenders.get(0);
-        if (appenders.size() > 1) {
-            appenderAlive = appenders.get(1);
+        appenderInsert = appenders.get(1);
+        appenderDelete = appenders.get(2);
+        if (appenders.size() > 3) {
+            appenderAlive = appenders.get(appenders.size() - 1);
         }
     }
 
     public final void setOutputTupleBuilders(List<ArrayTupleBuilder> tbs) {
         message = tbs.get(0);
-        if (tbs.size() > 1) {
-            alive = tbs.get(1);
+        insertTb = tbs.get(1);
+        deleteTb = tbs.get(2);
+        if (tbs.size() > 3) {
+            alive = tbs.get(tbs.size() - 1);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/io/BasicGenInputSplit.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/io/BasicGenInputSplit.java
index 7179737..ea33691 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/io/BasicGenInputSplit.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/io/BasicGenInputSplit.java
@@ -21,60 +21,64 @@
 import java.io.Serializable;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
-import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.InputSplit;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.input.FileSplit;
 
 /**
  * This InputSplit will not give any ordering or location data. It is used
  * internally by BspInputFormat (which determines how many tasks to run the
  * application on). Users should not use this directly.
  */
-public class BasicGenInputSplit extends InputSplit implements Writable, Serializable {
-    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
-    /** Number of splits */
-    private int numSplits = -1;
-    /** Split index */
-    private int splitIndex = -1;
+public class BasicGenInputSplit extends FileSplit implements Writable,
+		Serializable {
+	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+	/** Number of splits */
+	private int numSplits = -1;
+	/** Split index */
+	private int splitIndex = -1;
 
-    public BasicGenInputSplit() {
-    }
+	public BasicGenInputSplit() {
+		super(null, 0, 0, null);
+	}
 
-    public BasicGenInputSplit(int splitIndex, int numSplits) {
-        this.splitIndex = splitIndex;
-        this.numSplits = numSplits;
-    }
+	public BasicGenInputSplit(int splitIndex, int numSplits) {
+		super(null, 0, 0, null);
+		this.splitIndex = splitIndex;
+		this.numSplits = numSplits;
+	}
 
-    @Override
-    public long getLength() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
-        return 0;
-    }
+	@Override
+	public long getLength() {
+		return 0;
+	}
 
-    @Override
-    public String[] getLocations() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
-        return new String[] {};
-    }
+	@Override
+	public String[] getLocations() throws IOException {
+		return new String[] {};
+	}
 
-    @Override
-    public void readFields(DataInput in) throws IOException {
-        splitIndex = in.readInt();
-        numSplits = in.readInt();
-    }
+	@Override
+	public void readFields(DataInput in) throws IOException {
+		splitIndex = in.readInt();
+		numSplits = in.readInt();
+	}
 
-    @Override
-    public void write(DataOutput out) throws IOException {
-        out.writeInt(splitIndex);
-        out.writeInt(numSplits);
-    }
+	@Override
+	public void write(DataOutput out) throws IOException {
+		out.writeInt(splitIndex);
+		out.writeInt(numSplits);
+	}
 
-    public int getSplitIndex() {
-        return splitIndex;
-    }
+	public int getSplitIndex() {
+		return splitIndex;
+	}
 
-    public int getNumSplits() {
-        return numSplits;
-    }
+	public int getNumSplits() {
+		return numSplits;
+	}
 
-    @Override
-    public String toString() {
-        return "'" + getClass().getCanonicalName() + ", index=" + getSplitIndex() + ", num=" + getNumSplits();
-    }
+	@Override
+	public String toString() {
+		return "'" + getClass().getCanonicalName() + ", index="
+				+ getSplitIndex() + ", num=" + getNumSplits();
+	}
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/job/PregelixJob.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/job/PregelixJob.java
index 6ef7e13..8b6d1b6 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/job/PregelixJob.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/job/PregelixJob.java
@@ -60,8 +60,12 @@
     public static final String NUM_VERTICE = "pregelix.numVertices";
     /** num of edges */
     public static final String NUM_EDGES = "pregelix.numEdges";
+    /** increase state length */
+    public static final String INCREASE_STATE_LENGTH = "pregelix.incStateLength";
     /** job id */
     public static final String JOB_ID = "pregelix.jobid";
+    /** frame size */
+    public static final String FRAME_SIZE = "pregelix.framesize";
 
     /**
      * Constructor that will instantiate the configuration
@@ -130,8 +134,8 @@
     /**
      * Set the global aggregator class (optional)
      * 
-     * @param vertexCombinerClass
-     *            Determines how vertex messages are combined
+     * @param globalAggregatorClass
+     *            Determines how messages are globally aggregated
      */
     final public void setGlobalAggregatorClass(Class<?> globalAggregatorClass) {
         getConfiguration().setClass(GLOBAL_AGGREGATOR_CLASS, globalAggregatorClass, GlobalAggregator.class);
@@ -139,11 +143,27 @@
 
     /**
      * Set the job Id
-     * 
-     * @param vertexCombinerClass
-     *            Determines how vertex messages are combined
      */
     final public void setJobId(String jobId) {
         getConfiguration().set(JOB_ID, jobId);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Set whether the vertex state length can be dynamically increased
+     * 
+     * @param jobId
+     */
+    final public void setDynamicVertexValueSize(boolean incStateLengthDynamically) {
+        getConfiguration().setBoolean(INCREASE_STATE_LENGTH, incStateLengthDynamically);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set the frame size for a job
+     * 
+     * @param frameSize
+     *            the desired frame size
+     */
+    final public void setFrameSize(int frameSize) {
+        getConfiguration().setInt(FRAME_SIZE, frameSize);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/BspUtils.java b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/BspUtils.java
index 7c4853f..ff9724d 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/BspUtils.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-api/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/api/util/BspUtils.java
@@ -410,4 +410,26 @@
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("createMessageValue: Illegally accessed", e);
         }
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the job configuration parameter whether the vertex states will increase dynamically
+     * 
+     * @param conf
+     *            the job configuration
+     * @return the boolean setting of the parameter, by default it is false
+     */
+    public static boolean getDynamicVertexValueSize(Configuration conf) {
+        return conf.getBoolean(PregelixJob.INCREASE_STATE_LENGTH, false);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the specified frame size
+     * 
+     * @param conf
+     *            the job configuration
+     * @return the specified frame size; -1 if it is not set by users
+     */
+    public static int getFrameSize(Configuration conf) {
+        return conf.getInt(PregelixJob.FRAME_SIZE, -1);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-core/pom.xml
index 17ea6c3..34faa82 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/pom.xml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
 	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 	<artifactId>pregelix-core</artifactId>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@
 		<plugins>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.4</version>
 				<executions>
 					<execution>
 						<id>balancer</id>
@@ -38,11 +40,6 @@
 							</includes>
 						</configuration>
 					</execution>
-				</executions>
-			</plugin>
-			<plugin>
-				<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
-				<executions>
 					<execution>
 						<id>generator</id>
 						<goals>
@@ -64,25 +61,6 @@
 				</executions>
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
-				<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
-				<executions>
-					<execution>
-						<id>patch</id>
-						<goals>
-							<goal>jar</goal>
-						</goals>
-						<phase>package</phase>
-						<configuration>
-							<classifier>patch</classifier>
-							<finalName>a-hadoop</finalName>
-							<includes>
-								<include>**/org/apache/**</include>
-							</includes>
-						</configuration>
-					</execution>
-				</executions>
-			</plugin>
-			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 				<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
 				<version>2.0.2</version>
@@ -94,6 +72,7 @@
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
 				<artifactId>appassembler-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>1.3</version>
 				<executions>
 					<execution>
 						<configuration>
@@ -166,25 +145,6 @@
 							</resources>
 						</configuration>
 					</execution>
-					<execution>
-						<id>copy-hadoop-patch</id>
-						<!-- here the phase you need -->
-						<phase>package</phase>
-						<goals>
-							<goal>copy-resources</goal>
-						</goals>
-						<configuration>
-							<outputDirectory>target/appassembler/lib</outputDirectory>
-							<resources>
-								<resource>
-									<directory>target</directory>
-									<includes>
-										<include>a-hadoop-patch.jar</include>
-									</includes>
-								</resource>
-							</resources>
-						</configuration>
-					</execution>
 				</executions>
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
@@ -193,7 +153,8 @@
 				<version>2.7.2</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<forkMode>pertest</forkMode>
-					<argLine>-enableassertions -Xmx512m -XX:MaxPermSize=300m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
+					<argLine>-enableassertions -Xmx512m -XX:MaxPermSize=300m
+						-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
 						-Djava.util.logging.config.file=src/test/resources/logging.properties</argLine>
 					<includes>
 						<include>**/*TestSuite.java</include>
@@ -203,6 +164,7 @@
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.5</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<filesets>
 						<fileset>
@@ -335,7 +297,7 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks.examples</groupId>
 			<artifactId>hyracks-integration-tests</artifactId>
-			<version>0.2.1</version>
+			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java
index de29dbc..0b1be61 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGen.java
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.util.DatatypeHelper;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.HDFSFileWriteOperatorDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.base.IConfigurationFactory;
-import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.FileWriteOperatorDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRecordDescriptorFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRuntimeHookFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.runtime.bootstrap.StorageManagerInterface;
@@ -89,8 +89,6 @@
     private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(JobGen.class.getName());
     protected static final int MB = 1048576;
     protected static final float DEFAULT_BTREE_FILL_FACTOR = 1.00f;
-    protected static final int frameSize = ClusterConfig.getFrameSize();
-    protected static final int maxFrameSize = (int) (((long) 32 * MB) / frameSize);
     protected static final int tableSize = 10485767;
     protected static final String PRIMARY_INDEX = "primary";
     protected final Configuration conf;
@@ -98,6 +96,8 @@
     protected IIndexRegistryProvider<IIndex> treeRegistryProvider = TreeIndexRegistryProvider.INSTANCE;
     protected IStorageManagerInterface storageManagerInterface = StorageManagerInterface.INSTANCE;
     protected String jobId = new UUID(System.currentTimeMillis(), System.nanoTime()).toString();
+    protected int frameSize = ClusterConfig.getFrameSize();
+    protected int maxFrameNumber = (int) (((long) 32 * MB) / frameSize);
 
     protected static final String SECONDARY_INDEX_ODD = "secondary1";
     protected static final String SECONDARY_INDEX_EVEN = "secondary2";
@@ -107,6 +107,17 @@
         this.giraphJob = job;
         this.initJobConfiguration();
         job.setJobId(jobId);
+
+        // set the frame size to be the one user specified if the user did
+        // specify.
+        int specifiedFrameSize = BspUtils.getFrameSize(job.getConfiguration());
+        if (specifiedFrameSize > 0) {
+            frameSize = specifiedFrameSize;
+            maxFrameNumber = (int) (((long) 32 * MB) / frameSize);
+        }
+        if (maxFrameNumber <= 0) {
+            maxFrameNumber = 1;
+        }
     }
 
     @SuppressWarnings({ "rawtypes", "unchecked" })
@@ -189,9 +200,10 @@
         RecordDescriptor recordDescriptor = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), vertexClass.getName());
         IConfigurationFactory confFactory = new ConfigurationFactory(conf);
+        String[] readSchedule = ClusterConfig.getHdfsScheduler().getLocationConstraints(splits);
         VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor scanner = new VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor(spec, recordDescriptor, splits,
-                confFactory);
-        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, scanner, splits);
+                readSchedule, confFactory);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, scanner);
 
         /**
          * construct sort operator
@@ -203,7 +215,7 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] comparatorFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         comparatorFactories[0] = new WritableComparingBinaryComparatorFactory(WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor sorter = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, sortFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor sorter = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, sortFields,
                 nkmFactory, comparatorFactories, recordDescriptor);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, sorter);
 
@@ -264,9 +276,10 @@
         RecordDescriptor recordDescriptor = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), vertexClass.getName());
         IConfigurationFactory confFactory = new ConfigurationFactory(conf);
+        String[] readSchedule = ClusterConfig.getHdfsScheduler().getLocationConstraints(splits);
         VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor scanner = new VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor(spec, recordDescriptor, splits,
-                confFactory);
-        PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, scanner, splits.size());
+                readSchedule, confFactory);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, scanner);
 
         /**
          * construct sort operator
@@ -280,7 +293,7 @@
                 .getClass());
         ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor sorter = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameLimit, sortFields,
                 nkmFactory, comparatorFactories, recordDescriptor);
-        PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, sorter, splits.size());
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, sorter);
 
         /**
          * construct write file operator
@@ -292,7 +305,7 @@
         IRuntimeHookFactory preHookFactory = new RuntimeHookFactory(confFactory);
         IRecordDescriptorFactory inputRdFactory = DataflowUtils.getWritableRecordDescriptorFactoryFromWritableClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), vertexClass.getName());
-        FileWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new FileWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, inputRdFactory,
+        VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, inputRdFactory,
                 resultFileSplitProvider, preHookFactory, null);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addAbsoluteLocationConstraint(spec, writer, new String[] { "nc1" });
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, writer, 1);
@@ -357,7 +370,7 @@
         IRuntimeHookFactory preHookFactory = new RuntimeHookFactory(confFactory);
         IRecordDescriptorFactory inputRdFactory = DataflowUtils.getWritableRecordDescriptorFactoryFromWritableClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), vertexClass.getName());
-        FileWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new FileWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, inputRdFactory,
+        VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, inputRdFactory,
                 resultFileSplitProvider, preHookFactory, null);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addAbsoluteLocationConstraint(spec, writer, new String[] { "nc1" });
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, writer, 1);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenInnerJoin.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenInnerJoin.java
index 00cdf07..727e7fe 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenInnerJoin.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenInnerJoin.java
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMInteriorFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMLeafFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ITreeIndexFrameFactory;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.dataflow.TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.impls.NoOpOperationCallbackProvider;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.ophelpers.IndexOp;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.tuples.TypeAwareTupleWriterFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.MsgList;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.job.PregelixJob;
@@ -127,13 +130,16 @@
                 MsgList.class.getName());
         RecordDescriptor rdUnnestedMessage = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), messageValueClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
 
         BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor scanner = new BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(spec,
                 recordDescriptor, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
                 comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), null, null, true, true,
-                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 4,
+                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 6,
                 new StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory), preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy,
-                rdPartialAggregate, rdFinal);
+                rdPartialAggregate, rdInsert, rdDelete, rdFinal);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, scanner);
 
         /**
@@ -173,7 +179,7 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localSort);
 
@@ -212,9 +218,36 @@
         EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink);
 
+        /**
+         * add the insert operator to insert vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
+
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
                 rdUnnestedMessage.getFields()[0]);
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory hashPartitionComputerFactory = new MergePartitionComputerFactory();
+
         /** connect all operators **/
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), emptyTupleSource, 0, preSuperStep, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), preSuperStep, 0, scanner, 0);
@@ -223,7 +256,18 @@
                 terminateWriter, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
-        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), scanner, 3, btreeBulkLoad, 0);
+
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 3, insertOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 4, deleteOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), scanner, 5, btreeBulkLoad, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), localSort, 0, localGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningMergingConnectorDescriptor(spec, partionFactory, keyFields, sortCmpFactories),
                 localGby, 0, globalGby, 0);
@@ -235,6 +279,8 @@
         spec.addRoot(btreeBulkLoad);
         spec.addRoot(terminateWriter);
         spec.addRoot(finalAggregator);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink3);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink4);
 
         spec.setConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy(new ConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy());
         spec.setFrameSize(frameSize);
@@ -261,6 +307,9 @@
                 .getClass());
         RecordDescriptor rdFinal = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
                 MsgList.class.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
 
         /**
          * construct empty tuple operator
@@ -316,8 +365,8 @@
         IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor join = new IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(
                 spec, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
                 comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), keyFields, keyFields, true, true,
-                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 4, new ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory),
-                preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy, rdPartialAggregate, rdFinal);
+                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 6, new ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory),
+                preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy, rdPartialAggregate, rdInsert, rdDelete, rdFinal);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, join);
 
         /**
@@ -342,7 +391,7 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localSort);
 
@@ -395,6 +444,32 @@
                 configurationFactory, aggRdFactory, jobId);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, finalAggregator, 1);
 
+        /**
+         * add the insert operator to insert vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
+
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory hashPartitionComputerFactory = new MergePartitionComputerFactory();
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
                 rdUnnestedMessage.getFields()[0]);
@@ -406,10 +481,18 @@
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), join, 0, localSort, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 1,
                 terminateWriter, 0);
-
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
-        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), join, 3, btreeBulkLoad, 0);
+
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 3, insertOp, 0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 4, deleteOp, 0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), join, 5, btreeBulkLoad, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), localSort, 0, localGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningMergingConnectorDescriptor(spec, partionFactory, keyFields, sortCmpFactories),
                 localGby, 0, globalGby, 0);
@@ -420,6 +503,8 @@
         spec.addRoot(emptySink);
         spec.addRoot(btreeBulkLoad);
         spec.addRoot(terminateWriter);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink3);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink4);
 
         spec.setConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy(new ConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy());
         spec.setFrameSize(frameSize);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoin.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoin.java
index 3847aa7..9bad169 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoin.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoin.java
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMInteriorFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMLeafFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ITreeIndexFrameFactory;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.dataflow.TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.impls.NoOpOperationCallbackProvider;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.ophelpers.IndexOp;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.tuples.TypeAwareTupleWriterFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.MsgList;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.job.PregelixJob;
@@ -121,13 +124,16 @@
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), vertexClass.getName());
         RecordDescriptor rdUnnestedMessage = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), messageValueClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
 
         BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor scanner = new BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(spec,
                 recordDescriptor, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
                 comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), null, null, true, true,
-                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 3,
+                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 5,
                 new StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory), preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy,
-                rdPartialAggregate);
+                rdPartialAggregate, rdInsert, rdDelete);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, scanner);
 
         /**
@@ -139,14 +145,15 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localSort);
 
         /**
          * construct local pre-clustered group-by operator
          */
-        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactory = DataflowUtils.getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf, false, false);
+        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactory = DataflowUtils.getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf, false,
+                false);
         PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor localGby = new PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor(spec, keyFields,
                 sortCmpFactories, aggregatorFactory, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localGby);
@@ -156,8 +163,8 @@
          */
         RecordDescriptor rdFinal = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
                 MsgList.class.getName());
-        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactoryFinal = DataflowUtils
-                .getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf, true, true);
+        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactoryFinal = DataflowUtils.getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf,
+                true, true);
         PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor globalGby = new PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor(spec, keyFields,
                 sortCmpFactories, aggregatorFactoryFinal, rdFinal);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, globalGby);
@@ -193,6 +200,33 @@
                 configurationFactory, aggRdFactory, jobId);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, finalAggregator, 1);
 
+        /**
+         * add the insert operator to insert vertexes
+         */
+        int[] fieldPermutation = new int[] { 0, 1 };
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
+
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
                 rdUnnestedMessage.getFields()[0]);
         /** connect all operators **/
@@ -203,6 +237,20 @@
                 terminateWriter, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
+
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 3, insertOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 4, deleteOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+
+        /**
+         * connect the group-by operator
+         */
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), localSort, 0, localGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningMergingConnectorDescriptor(spec, partionFactory, keyFields, sortCmpFactories),
                 localGby, 0, globalGby, 0);
@@ -213,6 +261,8 @@
         spec.addRoot(terminateWriter);
         spec.addRoot(finalAggregator);
         spec.addRoot(emptySink2);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink3);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink4);
 
         spec.setConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy(new ConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy());
         spec.setFrameSize(frameSize);
@@ -239,6 +289,9 @@
                 .getClass());
         RecordDescriptor rdFinal = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
                 MsgList.class.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
 
         /**
          * construct empty tuple operator
@@ -286,9 +339,9 @@
         IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor join = new IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(
                 spec, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, interiorFrameFactory,
                 leafFrameFactory, typeTraits, comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), keyFields,
-                keyFields, true, true, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), true, nullWriterFactories, inputRdFactory, 3,
+                keyFields, true, true, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), true, nullWriterFactories, inputRdFactory, 5,
                 new ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory), preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy,
-                rdPartialAggregate);
+                rdPartialAggregate, rdInsert, rdDelete);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, join);
 
         /**
@@ -299,14 +352,15 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localSort);
 
         /**
          * construct local pre-clustered group-by operator
          */
-        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactory = DataflowUtils.getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf, false, false);
+        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactory = DataflowUtils.getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf, false,
+                false);
         PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor localGby = new PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor(spec, keyFields,
                 sortCmpFactories, aggregatorFactory, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localGby);
@@ -314,8 +368,8 @@
         /**
          * construct global group-by operator
          */
-        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactoryFinal = DataflowUtils
-                .getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf, true, true);
+        IAggregatorDescriptorFactory aggregatorFactoryFinal = DataflowUtils.getAccumulatingAggregatorFactory(conf,
+                true, true);
         PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor globalGby = new PreclusteredGroupOperatorDescriptor(spec, keyFields,
                 sortCmpFactories, aggregatorFactoryFinal, rdFinal);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, globalGby);
@@ -351,6 +405,33 @@
                 configurationFactory, aggRdFactory, jobId);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, finalAggregator, 1);
 
+        /**
+         * add the insert operator to insert vertexes
+         */
+        int[] fieldPermutation = new int[] { 0, 1 };
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
+
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory hashPartitionComputerFactory = new MergePartitionComputerFactory();
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
                 rdUnnestedMessage.getFields()[0]);
@@ -364,6 +445,15 @@
                 terminateWriter, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
+
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 3, insertOp, 0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 4, deleteOp, 0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), localSort, 0, localGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningMergingConnectorDescriptor(spec, partionFactory, keyFields, sortCmpFactories),
                 localGby, 0, globalGby, 0);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSingleSort.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSingleSort.java
index ec783a7..ffdef10 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSingleSort.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSingleSort.java
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMInteriorFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMLeafFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ITreeIndexFrameFactory;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.dataflow.TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.impls.NoOpOperationCallbackProvider;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.ophelpers.IndexOp;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.tuples.TypeAwareTupleWriterFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.MsgList;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.job.PregelixJob;
@@ -123,10 +126,14 @@
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), vertexClass.getName());
         RecordDescriptor rdUnnestedMessage = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), messageValueClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
+
         BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor scanner = new BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(spec,
                 recordDescriptor, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
                 comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), null, null, true, true,
-                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 3,
+                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 5,
                 new StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory), preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy,
                 rdPartialAggregate);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, scanner);
@@ -140,7 +147,7 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, globalSort);
 
@@ -185,6 +192,33 @@
                 configurationFactory, aggRdFactory, jobId);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, finalAggregator, 1);
 
+        /**
+         * add the insert operator to insert vertexes
+         */
+        int[] fieldPermutation = new int[] { 0, 1 };
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
+
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory hashPartitionComputerFactory = new MergePartitionComputerFactory();
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
                 rdUnnestedMessage.getFields()[0]);
@@ -196,6 +230,17 @@
                 terminateWriter, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
+
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 3, insertOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 4, deleteOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), globalSort, 0, globalGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), globalGby, 0, materialize, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), materialize, 0, postSuperStep, 0);
@@ -204,6 +249,8 @@
         spec.addRoot(terminateWriter);
         spec.addRoot(finalAggregator);
         spec.addRoot(emptySink2);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink3);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink4);
 
         spec.setConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy(new NonCombinerConnectorPolicyAssignmentPolicy());
         spec.setFrameSize(frameSize);
@@ -230,6 +277,9 @@
                 .getClass());
         RecordDescriptor rdFinal = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
                 MsgList.class.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
 
         /**
          * construct empty tuple operator
@@ -277,7 +327,7 @@
         IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor join = new IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(
                 spec, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, interiorFrameFactory,
                 leafFrameFactory, typeTraits, comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), keyFields,
-                keyFields, true, true, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), true, nullWriterFactories, inputRdFactory, 3,
+                keyFields, true, true, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), true, nullWriterFactories, inputRdFactory, 5,
                 new ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory), preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy,
                 rdPartialAggregate);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, join);
@@ -290,7 +340,7 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, globalSort);
 
@@ -333,6 +383,31 @@
         FinalAggregateOperatorDescriptor finalAggregator = new FinalAggregateOperatorDescriptor(spec,
                 configurationFactory, aggRdFactory, jobId);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, finalAggregator, 1);
+        
+
+        int[] fieldPermutation = new int[] { 0, 1 };
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+        
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
 
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory hashPartitionComputerFactory = new MergePartitionComputerFactory();
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
@@ -347,6 +422,16 @@
                 terminateWriter, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 3, insertOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 4, deleteOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+        
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), globalSort, 0, globalGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), globalGby, 0, materialize, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), materialize, 0, postSuperStep, 0);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSort.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSort.java
index bb939e3..cc12523 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSort.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/JobGenOuterJoinSort.java
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMInteriorFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.btree.frames.BTreeNSMLeafFrameFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ITreeIndexFrameFactory;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.dataflow.TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.impls.NoOpOperationCallbackProvider;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.ophelpers.IndexOp;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.tuples.TypeAwareTupleWriterFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.MsgList;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.job.PregelixJob;
@@ -119,10 +122,14 @@
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), vertexClass.getName());
         RecordDescriptor rdUnnestedMessage = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(
                 vertexIdClass.getName(), messageValueClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
+
         BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor scanner = new BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(spec,
                 recordDescriptor, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
                 comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), null, null, true, true,
-                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 3,
+                new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), inputRdFactory, 5,
                 new StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory), preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy,
                 rdPartialAggregate);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, scanner);
@@ -136,7 +143,7 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localSort);
 
@@ -152,7 +159,7 @@
         /**
          * construct global sort operator
          */
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, globalSort);
 
@@ -198,6 +205,33 @@
                 configurationFactory, aggRdFactory, jobId);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, finalAggregator, 1);
 
+        /**
+         * add the insert operator to insert vertexes
+         */
+        int[] fieldPermutation = new int[] { 0, 1 };
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
+
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
                 rdUnnestedMessage.getFields()[0]);
         /** connect all operators **/
@@ -208,6 +242,16 @@
                 terminateWriter, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 3, insertOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), scanner, 4, deleteOp,
+                0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), localSort, 0, localGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, partionFactory), localGby, 0, globalSort, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), globalSort, 0, globalGby, 0);
@@ -218,6 +262,8 @@
         spec.addRoot(terminateWriter);
         spec.addRoot(finalAggregator);
         spec.addRoot(emptySink2);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink3);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink4);
 
         spec.setFrameSize(frameSize);
         return spec;
@@ -243,6 +289,9 @@
                 .getClass());
         RecordDescriptor rdFinal = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
                 MsgList.class.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdInsert = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromKeyValueClasses(vertexIdClass.getName(),
+                vertexClass.getName());
+        RecordDescriptor rdDelete = DataflowUtils.getRecordDescriptorFromWritableClasses(vertexIdClass.getName());
 
         /**
          * construct empty tuple operator
@@ -290,7 +339,7 @@
         IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor join = new IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorDescriptor(
                 spec, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, interiorFrameFactory,
                 leafFrameFactory, typeTraits, comparatorFactories, JobGenUtil.getForwardScan(iteration), keyFields,
-                keyFields, true, true, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), true, nullWriterFactories, inputRdFactory, 3,
+                keyFields, true, true, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), true, nullWriterFactories, inputRdFactory, 5,
                 new ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory(confFactory), preHookFactory, null, rdUnnestedMessage, rdDummy,
                 rdPartialAggregate);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, join);
@@ -303,7 +352,7 @@
         IBinaryComparatorFactory[] sortCmpFactories = new IBinaryComparatorFactory[1];
         sortCmpFactories[0] = JobGenUtil.getIBinaryComparatorFactory(iteration, WritableComparator.get(vertexIdClass)
                 .getClass());
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor localSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, localSort);
 
@@ -319,7 +368,7 @@
         /**
          * construct global sort operator
          */
-        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameSize, keyFields,
+        ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor globalSort = new ExternalSortOperatorDescriptor(spec, maxFrameNumber, keyFields,
                 nkmFactory, sortCmpFactories, rdUnnestedMessage);
         ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, globalSort);
 
@@ -363,6 +412,33 @@
                 configurationFactory, aggRdFactory, jobId);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, finalAggregator, 1);
 
+        /**
+         * add the insert operator to insert vertexes
+         */
+        int[] fieldPermutation = new int[] { 0, 1 };
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor insertOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdInsert, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.INSERT, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, insertOp);
+
+        /**
+         * add the delete operator to delete vertexes
+         */
+        TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor deleteOp = new TreeIndexInsertUpdateDeleteOperatorDescriptor(
+                spec, rdDelete, storageManagerInterface, treeRegistryProvider, fileSplitProvider, typeTraits,
+                comparatorFactories, fieldPermutation, IndexOp.DELETE, new BTreeDataflowHelperFactory(), null,
+                NoOpOperationCallbackProvider.INSTANCE);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, deleteOp);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink3 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink3);
+
+        /** construct empty sink operator */
+        EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor emptySink4 = new EmptySinkOperatorDescriptor(spec);
+        ClusterConfig.setLocationConstraint(spec, emptySink4);
+
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory hashPartitionComputerFactory = new MergePartitionComputerFactory();
         ITuplePartitionComputerFactory partionFactory = new VertexIdPartitionComputerFactory(
                 rdUnnestedMessage.getFields()[0]);
@@ -376,6 +452,14 @@
                 terminateWriter, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 2,
                 finalAggregator, 0);
+        /**
+         * connect the insert/delete operator
+         */
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 3, insertOp, 0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), insertOp, 0, emptySink3, 0);
+        spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, hashPartitionComputerFactory), join, 4, deleteOp, 0);
+        spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), deleteOp, 0, emptySink4, 0);
+
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), localSort, 0, localGby, 0);
         spec.connect(new MToNPartitioningConnectorDescriptor(spec, partionFactory), localGby, 0, globalSort, 0);
         spec.connect(new OneToOneConnectorDescriptor(spec), globalSort, 0, globalGby, 0);
@@ -386,6 +470,8 @@
         spec.addRoot(terminateWriter);
         spec.addRoot(finalAggregator);
         spec.addRoot(emptySink);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink3);
+        spec.addRoot(emptySink4);
 
         spec.setFrameSize(frameSize);
         return spec;
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/clusterconfig/ClusterConfig.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/clusterconfig/ClusterConfig.java
index 8eadab9..d26e637 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/clusterconfig/ClusterConfig.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/jobgen/clusterconfig/ClusterConfig.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.std.file.ConstantFileSplitProvider;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.std.file.FileSplit;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.std.file.IFileSplitProvider;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.hdfs2.scheduler.Scheduler;
 
 public class ClusterConfig {
 
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@
     private static Properties clusterProperties = new Properties();
     private static Map<String, List<String>> ipToNcMapping;
     private static String[] stores;
+    private static Scheduler hdfsScheduler;
 
     /**
      * let tests set config path to be whatever
@@ -211,6 +213,8 @@
                 NCs[i] = entry.getKey();
                 i++;
             }
+
+            hdfsScheduler = new Scheduler(ipAddress, port);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw new IllegalStateException(e);
         }
@@ -218,4 +222,8 @@
         loadClusterProperties();
         loadStores();
     }
+
+    public static Scheduler getHdfsScheduler() {
+        return hdfsScheduler;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/util/PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/util/PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.java
index ed04746..2a2e2bf 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/util/PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/util/PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.java
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@
         ccConfig.clusterNetPort = TEST_HYRACKS_CC_PORT;
         ccConfig.clientNetPort = TEST_HYRACKS_CC_CLIENT_PORT;
         ccConfig.defaultMaxJobAttempts = 0;
-        ccConfig.jobHistorySize = 10;
+        ccConfig.jobHistorySize = 0;
+        ccConfig.profileDumpPeriod = -1;
 
         // cluster controller
         cc = new ClusterControllerService(ccConfig);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Path.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Path.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 5efdde8..0000000
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Path.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,355 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * you may obtain a copy of the License from
- * 
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-package org.apache.hadoop.fs;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.Serializable;
-import java.net.URI;
-import java.net.URISyntaxException;
-
-import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-
-/**
- * Names a file or directory in a {@link FileSystem}. Path strings use slash as
- * the directory separator. A path string is absolute if it begins with a slash.
- */
-@SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
-public class Path implements Comparable, Serializable {
-    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
-    /** The directory separator, a slash. */
-    public static final String SEPARATOR = "/";
-    public static final char SEPARATOR_CHAR = '/';
-
-    public static final String CUR_DIR = ".";
-
-    static final boolean WINDOWS = System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows");
-
-    private URI uri; // a hierarchical uri
-
-    /** Resolve a child path against a parent path. */
-    public Path(String parent, String child) {
-        this(new Path(parent), new Path(child));
-    }
-
-    /** Resolve a child path against a parent path. */
-    public Path(Path parent, String child) {
-        this(parent, new Path(child));
-    }
-
-    /** Resolve a child path against a parent path. */
-    public Path(String parent, Path child) {
-        this(new Path(parent), child);
-    }
-
-    /** Resolve a child path against a parent path. */
-    public Path(Path parent, Path child) {
-        // Add a slash to parent's path so resolution is compatible with URI's
-        URI parentUri = parent.uri;
-        String parentPath = parentUri.getPath();
-        if (!(parentPath.equals("/") || parentPath.equals("")))
-            try {
-                parentUri = new URI(parentUri.getScheme(), parentUri.getAuthority(), parentUri.getPath() + "/", null,
-                        parentUri.getFragment());
-            } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-                throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
-            }
-        URI resolved = parentUri.resolve(child.uri);
-        initialize(resolved.getScheme(), resolved.getAuthority(), normalizePath(resolved.getPath()),
-                resolved.getFragment());
-    }
-
-    private void checkPathArg(String path) {
-        // disallow construction of a Path from an empty string
-        if (path == null) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Can not create a Path from a null string");
-        }
-        if (path.length() == 0) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Can not create a Path from an empty string");
-        }
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Construct a path from a String. Path strings are URIs, but with unescaped
-     * elements and some additional normalization.
-     */
-    public Path(String pathString) {
-        checkPathArg(pathString);
-
-        // We can't use 'new URI(String)' directly, since it assumes things are
-        // escaped, which we don't require of Paths.
-
-        // add a slash in front of paths with Windows drive letters
-        if (hasWindowsDrive(pathString, false))
-            pathString = "/" + pathString;
-
-        // parse uri components
-        String scheme = null;
-        String authority = null;
-
-        int start = 0;
-
-        // parse uri scheme, if any
-        int colon = pathString.indexOf(':');
-        int slash = pathString.indexOf('/');
-        if ((colon != -1) && ((slash == -1) || (colon < slash))) { // has a
-                                                                   // scheme
-            scheme = pathString.substring(0, colon);
-            start = colon + 1;
-        }
-
-        // parse uri authority, if any
-        if (pathString.startsWith("//", start) && (pathString.length() - start > 2)) { // has
-                                                                                       // authority
-            int nextSlash = pathString.indexOf('/', start + 2);
-            int authEnd = nextSlash > 0 ? nextSlash : pathString.length();
-            authority = pathString.substring(start + 2, authEnd);
-            start = authEnd;
-        }
-
-        // uri path is the rest of the string -- query & fragment not supported
-        String path = pathString.substring(start, pathString.length());
-
-        initialize(scheme, authority, path, null);
-    }
-
-    /** Construct a Path from components. */
-    public Path(String scheme, String authority, String path) {
-        checkPathArg(path);
-        initialize(scheme, authority, path, null);
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Construct a path from a URI
-     */
-    public Path(URI aUri) {
-        uri = aUri;
-    }
-
-    private void initialize(String scheme, String authority, String path, String fragment) {
-        try {
-            this.uri = new URI(scheme, authority, normalizePath(path), null, fragment).normalize();
-        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
-        }
-    }
-
-    private String normalizePath(String path) {
-        // remove double slashes & backslashes
-        if (path.indexOf("//") != -1) {
-            path = path.replace("//", "/");
-        }
-        if (path.indexOf("\\") != -1) {
-            path = path.replace("\\", "/");
-        }
-
-        // trim trailing slash from non-root path (ignoring windows drive)
-        int minLength = hasWindowsDrive(path, true) ? 4 : 1;
-        if (path.length() > minLength && path.endsWith("/")) {
-            path = path.substring(0, path.length() - 1);
-        }
-
-        return path;
-    }
-
-    private boolean hasWindowsDrive(String path, boolean slashed) {
-        if (!WINDOWS)
-            return false;
-        int start = slashed ? 1 : 0;
-        return path.length() >= start + 2
-                && (slashed ? path.charAt(0) == '/' : true)
-                && path.charAt(start + 1) == ':'
-                && ((path.charAt(start) >= 'A' && path.charAt(start) <= 'Z') || (path.charAt(start) >= 'a' && path
-                        .charAt(start) <= 'z'));
-    }
-
-    /** Convert this to a URI. */
-    public URI toUri() {
-        return uri;
-    }
-
-    /** Return the FileSystem that owns this Path. */
-    public FileSystem getFileSystem(Configuration conf) throws IOException {
-        return FileSystem.get(this.toUri(), conf);
-    }
-
-    /** True if the directory of this path is absolute. */
-    public boolean isAbsolute() {
-        int start = hasWindowsDrive(uri.getPath(), true) ? 3 : 0;
-        return uri.getPath().startsWith(SEPARATOR, start);
-    }
-
-    /** Returns the final component of this path. */
-    public String getName() {
-        String path = uri.getPath();
-        int slash = path.lastIndexOf(SEPARATOR);
-        return path.substring(slash + 1);
-    }
-
-    /** Returns the parent of a path or null if at root. */
-    public Path getParent() {
-        String path = uri.getPath();
-        int lastSlash = path.lastIndexOf('/');
-        int start = hasWindowsDrive(path, true) ? 3 : 0;
-        if ((path.length() == start) || // empty path
-                (lastSlash == start && path.length() == start + 1)) { // at root
-            return null;
-        }
-        String parent;
-        if (lastSlash == -1) {
-            parent = CUR_DIR;
-        } else {
-            int end = hasWindowsDrive(path, true) ? 3 : 0;
-            parent = path.substring(0, lastSlash == end ? end + 1 : lastSlash);
-        }
-        return new Path(uri.getScheme(), uri.getAuthority(), parent);
-    }
-
-    /** Adds a suffix to the final name in the path. */
-    public Path suffix(String suffix) {
-        return new Path(getParent(), getName() + suffix);
-    }
-
-    public String toString() {
-        // we can't use uri.toString(), which escapes everything, because we
-        // want
-        // illegal characters unescaped in the string, for glob processing, etc.
-        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
-        if (uri.getScheme() != null) {
-            buffer.append(uri.getScheme());
-            buffer.append(":");
-        }
-        if (uri.getAuthority() != null) {
-            buffer.append("//");
-            buffer.append(uri.getAuthority());
-        }
-        if (uri.getPath() != null) {
-            String path = uri.getPath();
-            if (path.indexOf('/') == 0 && hasWindowsDrive(path, true) && // has
-                                                                         // windows
-                                                                         // drive
-                    uri.getScheme() == null && // but no scheme
-                    uri.getAuthority() == null) // or authority
-                path = path.substring(1); // remove slash before drive
-            buffer.append(path);
-        }
-        if (uri.getFragment() != null) {
-            buffer.append("#");
-            buffer.append(uri.getFragment());
-        }
-        return buffer.toString();
-    }
-
-    public boolean equals(Object o) {
-        if (!(o instanceof Path)) {
-            return false;
-        }
-        Path that = (Path) o;
-        return this.uri.equals(that.uri);
-    }
-
-    public int hashCode() {
-        return uri.hashCode();
-    }
-
-    public int compareTo(Object o) {
-        Path that = (Path) o;
-        return this.uri.compareTo(that.uri);
-    }
-
-    /** Return the number of elements in this path. */
-    public int depth() {
-        String path = uri.getPath();
-        int depth = 0;
-        int slash = path.length() == 1 && path.charAt(0) == '/' ? -1 : 0;
-        while (slash != -1) {
-            depth++;
-            slash = path.indexOf(SEPARATOR, slash + 1);
-        }
-        return depth;
-    }
-
-    /** Returns a qualified path object. */
-    public Path makeQualified(FileSystem fs) {
-        Path path = this;
-        if (!isAbsolute()) {
-            path = new Path(fs.getWorkingDirectory(), this);
-        }
-
-        URI pathUri = path.toUri();
-        URI fsUri = fs.getUri();
-
-        String scheme = pathUri.getScheme();
-        String authority = pathUri.getAuthority();
-        String fragment = pathUri.getFragment();
-        if (scheme != null && (authority != null || fsUri.getAuthority() == null))
-            return path;
-
-        if (scheme == null) {
-            scheme = fsUri.getScheme();
-        }
-
-        if (authority == null) {
-            authority = fsUri.getAuthority();
-            if (authority == null) {
-                authority = "";
-            }
-        }
-
-        URI newUri = null;
-        try {
-            newUri = new URI(scheme, authority, normalizePath(pathUri.getPath()), null, fragment);
-        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
-        }
-        return new Path(newUri);
-    }
-
-    /** Returns a qualified path object. */
-    public Path makeQualified(URI defaultUri, Path workingDir) {
-        Path path = this;
-        if (!isAbsolute()) {
-            path = new Path(workingDir, this);
-        }
-
-        URI pathUri = path.toUri();
-
-        String scheme = pathUri.getScheme();
-        String authority = pathUri.getAuthority();
-        String fragment = pathUri.getFragment();
-
-        if (scheme != null && (authority != null || defaultUri.getAuthority() == null))
-            return path;
-
-        if (scheme == null) {
-            scheme = defaultUri.getScheme();
-        }
-
-        if (authority == null) {
-            authority = defaultUri.getAuthority();
-            if (authority == null) {
-                authority = "";
-            }
-        }
-
-        URI newUri = null;
-        try {
-            newUri = new URI(scheme, authority, normalizePath(pathUri.getPath()), null, fragment);
-        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
-        }
-        return new Path(newUri);
-    }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/InputSplit.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/InputSplit.java
deleted file mode 100644
index ac72160..0000000
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/InputSplit.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * you may obtain a copy of the License from
- * 
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-package org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce;
-
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.Serializable;
-
-/**
- * <code>InputSplit</code> represents the data to be processed by an individual {@link Mapper}.
- * <p>
- * Typically, it presents a byte-oriented view on the input and is the responsibility of {@link RecordReader} of the job to process this and present a record-oriented view.
- * 
- * @see InputFormat
- * @see RecordReader
- */
-public abstract class InputSplit implements Serializable {
-    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
-
-    /**
-     * Get the size of the split, so that the input splits can be sorted by
-     * size.
-     * 
-     * @return the number of bytes in the split
-     * @throws IOException
-     * @throws InterruptedException
-     */
-    public abstract long getLength() throws IOException, InterruptedException;
-
-    /**
-     * Get the list of nodes by name where the data for the split would be
-     * local. The locations do not need to be serialized.
-     * 
-     * @return a new array of the node nodes.
-     * @throws IOException
-     * @throws InterruptedException
-     */
-    public abstract String[] getLocations() throws IOException, InterruptedException;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/resources/scripts/pregelix b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/resources/scripts/pregelix
index c3fd27b..6997078 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/resources/scripts/pregelix
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/main/resources/scripts/pregelix
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
   REPO="$BASEDIR"/lib
 fi
 
-CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH_PREFIX:"$HADOOP_HOME"/conf:"$BASEDIR"/etc:$(echo ${REPO}/*.jar | tr ' ' ':'):$1
+CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH_PREFIX:"$HADOOP_HOME"/conf:"$BASEDIR"/etc:$1
 
 # For Cygwin, switch paths to Windows format before running java
 if $cygwin; then
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java
index 4dfe57d..97659d4 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/core/join/JoinTest.java
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.jobgen.clusterconfig.ClusterConfig;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.util.PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.util.TestUtils;
-import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.FileWriteOperatorDescriptor;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.IndexNestedLoopJoinOperatorDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.ProjectOperatorDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.runtime.bootstrap.StorageManagerInterface;
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@
         FileSplit[] results = new FileSplit[1];
         results[0] = resultFile;
         IFileSplitProvider resultFileSplitProvider = new ConstantFileSplitProvider(results);
-        FileWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new FileWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
+        VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
                 null);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addAbsoluteLocationConstraint(spec, writer, new String[] { NC1_ID });
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, writer, 1);
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@
         FileSplit[] results = new FileSplit[1];
         results[0] = resultFile;
         IFileSplitProvider resultFileSplitProvider = new ConstantFileSplitProvider(results);
-        FileWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new FileWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
+        VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
                 null);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addAbsoluteLocationConstraint(spec, writer, new String[] { NC1_ID });
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, writer, 1);
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@
         FileSplit[] results = new FileSplit[1];
         results[0] = resultFile;
         IFileSplitProvider resultFileSplitProvider = new ConstantFileSplitProvider(results);
-        FileWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new FileWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
+        VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
                 null);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addAbsoluteLocationConstraint(spec, writer, new String[] { NC1_ID });
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, writer, 1);
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@
         FileSplit[] results = new FileSplit[1];
         results[0] = resultFile;
         IFileSplitProvider resultFileSplitProvider = new ConstantFileSplitProvider(results);
-        FileWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new FileWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
+        VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor writer = new VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor(spec, null, resultFileSplitProvider, null,
                 null);
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addAbsoluteLocationConstraint(spec, writer, new String[] { NC1_ID });
         PartitionConstraintHelper.addPartitionCountConstraint(spec, writer, 1);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml
index 1b9a4d6..f89dd79 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-core/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
       <value>20</value>
    </property>
    <property>
-      <name>mapred.min.split.size</name>
-      <value>65536</value>
+      <name>mapred.max.split.size</name>
+      <value>4096</value>
    </property>
 
 </configuration>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/pom.xml
index 53d7c22..05a1508 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/pom.xml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.5</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<filesets>
 						<fileset>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/base/IUpdateFunction.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/base/IUpdateFunction.java
index 62f92dd..a0d365f 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/base/IUpdateFunction.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std-base/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/base/IUpdateFunction.java
@@ -16,17 +16,19 @@
 package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base;
 
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.io.ArrayTupleBuilder;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.data.accessors.ITupleReference;
 
 public interface IUpdateFunction extends IFunction {
 
-    /**
-     * update the tuple pointed by tupleRef called after process,
-     * one-input-tuple-at-a-time
-     * 
-     * @param tupleRef
-     * @throws HyracksDataException
-     */
-    public void update(ITupleReference tupleRef) throws HyracksDataException;
+	/**
+	 * update the tuple pointed by tupleRef called after process,
+	 * one-input-tuple-at-a-time
+	 * 
+	 * @param tupleRef
+	 * @throws HyracksDataException
+	 */
+	public void update(ITupleReference tupleRef, ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb)
+			throws HyracksDataException;
 
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/pom.xml
index cc9a184..6c039bf 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/pom.xml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.5</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<filesets>
 						<fileset>
@@ -143,5 +144,12 @@
 			<type>jar</type>
 			<scope>compile</scope>
 		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
+			<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs</artifactId>
+			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+			<type>jar</type>
+			<scope>compile</scope>
+		</dependency>
 	</dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
index fb84aa0..3938613 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRuntimeHookFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IUpdateFunctionFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.FunctionProxy;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.UpdateBuffer;
 
 public class BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable extends AbstractUnaryInputOperatorNodePushable {
     protected TreeIndexDataflowHelper treeIndexHelper;
@@ -70,6 +71,8 @@
 
     private final IFrameWriter[] writers;
     private final FunctionProxy functionProxy;
+    private ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb;
+    private final UpdateBuffer updateBuffer;
 
     public BTreeSearchFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable(AbstractTreeIndexOperatorDescriptor opDesc,
             IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int partition, IRecordDescriptorProvider recordDescProvider, boolean isForward,
@@ -94,6 +97,7 @@
         this.writers = new IFrameWriter[outputArity];
         this.functionProxy = new FunctionProxy(ctx, functionFactory, preHookFactory, postHookFactory, inputRdFactory,
                 writers);
+        this.updateBuffer = new UpdateBuffer(ctx, 2);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -122,6 +126,9 @@
             appender = new FrameTupleAppender(treeIndexHelper.getHyracksTaskContext().getFrameSize());
             appender.reset(writeBuffer, true);
             indexAccessor = btree.createAccessor();
+
+            cloneUpdateTb = new ArrayTupleBuilder(btree.getFieldCount());
+            updateBuffer.setFieldCount(btree.getFieldCount());
         } catch (Exception e) {
             treeIndexHelper.deinit();
             throw new HyracksDataException(e);
@@ -136,7 +143,24 @@
         while (cursor.hasNext()) {
             cursor.next();
             ITupleReference tuple = cursor.getTuple();
-            functionProxy.functionCall(tuple);
+            functionProxy.functionCall(tuple, cloneUpdateTb);
+
+            //doing clone update
+            if (cloneUpdateTb.getSize() > 0) {
+                if (!updateBuffer.appendTuple(cloneUpdateTb)) {
+                    //release the cursor/latch
+                    cursor.close();
+                    //batch update
+                    updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
+
+                    //search again
+                    cursor.reset();
+                    rangePred.setLowKey(tuple, true);
+                    rangePred.setHighKey(highKey, highKeyInclusive);
+                    indexAccessor.search(cursor, rangePred);
+                }
+            }
+            cloneUpdateTb.reset();
         }
     }
 
@@ -168,6 +192,8 @@
         try {
             try {
                 cursor.close();
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 throw new HyracksDataException(e);
             }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
index 75a8087..37029f3 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
  */
 package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std;
 
-import java.io.DataOutput;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameTupleAccessor;
@@ -44,6 +43,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRuntimeHookFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IUpdateFunctionFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.FunctionProxy;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.UpdateBuffer;
 
 public class IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable extends AbstractUnaryInputOperatorNodePushable {
     private TreeIndexDataflowHelper treeIndexOpHelper;
@@ -51,9 +51,6 @@
 
     private ByteBuffer writeBuffer;
     private FrameTupleAppender appender;
-    private ArrayTupleBuilder tb;
-    private DataOutput dos;
-
     private BTree btree;
     private PermutingFrameTupleReference lowKey;
     private PermutingFrameTupleReference highKey;
@@ -67,17 +64,16 @@
     protected ITreeIndexAccessor indexAccessor;
 
     private RecordDescriptor recDesc;
-    private final RecordDescriptor inputRecDesc;
-
     private final IFrameWriter[] writers;
     private final FunctionProxy functionProxy;
+    private ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb;
+    private final UpdateBuffer updateBuffer;
 
     public IndexNestedLoopJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable(AbstractTreeIndexOperatorDescriptor opDesc,
             IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int partition, IRecordDescriptorProvider recordDescProvider, boolean isForward,
             int[] lowKeyFields, int[] highKeyFields, boolean lowKeyInclusive, boolean highKeyInclusive,
             IUpdateFunctionFactory functionFactory, IRuntimeHookFactory preHookFactory,
             IRuntimeHookFactory postHookFactory, IRecordDescriptorFactory inputRdFactory, int outputArity) {
-        inputRecDesc = recordDescProvider.getInputRecordDescriptor(opDesc.getActivityId(), 0);
         treeIndexOpHelper = (TreeIndexDataflowHelper) opDesc.getIndexDataflowHelperFactory().createIndexDataflowHelper(
                 opDesc, ctx, partition);
         this.lowKeyInclusive = lowKeyInclusive;
@@ -95,6 +91,7 @@
         this.writers = new IFrameWriter[outputArity];
         this.functionProxy = new FunctionProxy(ctx, functionFactory, preHookFactory, postHookFactory, inputRdFactory,
                 writers);
+        this.updateBuffer = new UpdateBuffer(ctx, 2);
     }
 
     protected void setCursor() {
@@ -144,12 +141,12 @@
             rangePred = new RangePredicate(null, null, lowKeyInclusive, highKeyInclusive, lowKeySearchCmp,
                     highKeySearchCmp);
             writeBuffer = treeIndexOpHelper.getHyracksTaskContext().allocateFrame();
-            tb = new ArrayTupleBuilder(inputRecDesc.getFields().length + btree.getFieldCount());
-            dos = tb.getDataOutput();
             appender = new FrameTupleAppender(treeIndexOpHelper.getHyracksTaskContext().getFrameSize());
             appender.reset(writeBuffer, true);
 
             indexAccessor = btree.createAccessor();
+            cloneUpdateTb = new ArrayTupleBuilder(btree.getFieldCount());
+            updateBuffer.setFieldCount(btree.getFieldCount());
         } catch (Exception e) {
             treeIndexOpHelper.deinit();
             throw new HyracksDataException(e);
@@ -158,27 +155,29 @@
 
     private void writeSearchResults(IFrameTupleAccessor leftAccessor, int tIndex) throws Exception {
         while (cursor.hasNext()) {
-            tb.reset();
             cursor.next();
-
             ITupleReference tupleRef = cursor.getTuple();
-            for (int i = 0; i < inputRecDesc.getFields().length; i++) {
-                int tupleStart = leftAccessor.getTupleStartOffset(tIndex);
-                int fieldStart = leftAccessor.getFieldStartOffset(tIndex, i);
-                int offset = leftAccessor.getFieldSlotsLength() + tupleStart + fieldStart;
-                int len = leftAccessor.getFieldEndOffset(tIndex, i) - fieldStart;
-                dos.write(leftAccessor.getBuffer().array(), offset, len);
-                tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-            }
-            for (int i = 0; i < tupleRef.getFieldCount(); i++) {
-                dos.write(tupleRef.getFieldData(i), tupleRef.getFieldStart(i), tupleRef.getFieldLength(i));
-                tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-            }
 
             /**
              * call the update function
              */
-            functionProxy.functionCall(tb, tupleRef);
+            functionProxy.functionCall(leftAccessor, tIndex, tupleRef, cloneUpdateTb);
+
+            if (cloneUpdateTb.getSize() > 0) {
+                if (!updateBuffer.appendTuple(cloneUpdateTb)) {
+                    //release the cursor/latch
+                    cursor.close();
+                    //batch update
+                    updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
+
+                    //search again
+                    cursor.reset();
+                    rangePred.setLowKey(tupleRef, true);
+                    rangePred.setHighKey(highKey, highKeyInclusive);
+                    indexAccessor.search(cursor, rangePred);
+                }
+            }
+            cloneUpdateTb.reset();
         }
     }
 
@@ -210,6 +209,8 @@
         try {
             try {
                 cursor.close();
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 throw new HyracksDataException(e);
             }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopRightOuterJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopRightOuterJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
index c31ebd4..f7b3d62 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopRightOuterJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopRightOuterJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRuntimeHookFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IUpdateFunctionFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.FunctionProxy;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.UpdateBuffer;
 
 public class IndexNestedLoopRightOuterJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable extends
         AbstractUnaryInputOperatorNodePushable {
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@
 
     private ByteBuffer writeBuffer;
     private FrameTupleAppender appender;
-    private ArrayTupleBuilder tb;
+    private ArrayTupleBuilder nullTupleBuilder;
     private DataOutput dos;
 
     private BTree btree;
@@ -76,6 +77,8 @@
 
     private final IFrameWriter[] writers;
     private final FunctionProxy functionProxy;
+    private ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb;
+    private UpdateBuffer updateBuffer;
 
     public IndexNestedLoopRightOuterJoinFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable(AbstractTreeIndexOperatorDescriptor opDesc,
             IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int partition, IRecordDescriptorProvider recordDescProvider, boolean isForward,
@@ -100,6 +103,7 @@
         this.writers = new IFrameWriter[outputArity];
         this.functionProxy = new FunctionProxy(ctx, functionFactory, preHookFactory, postHookFactory, inputRdFactory,
                 writers);
+        this.updateBuffer = new UpdateBuffer(ctx, 2);
     }
 
     protected void setCursor() {
@@ -144,8 +148,15 @@
             rangePred = new RangePredicate(null, null, true, true, lowKeySearchCmp, highKeySearchCmp);
 
             writeBuffer = treeIndexOpHelper.getHyracksTaskContext().allocateFrame();
-            tb = new ArrayTupleBuilder(inputRecDesc.getFields().length + btree.getFieldCount());
-            dos = tb.getDataOutput();
+
+            nullTupleBuilder = new ArrayTupleBuilder(inputRecDesc.getFields().length);
+            dos = nullTupleBuilder.getDataOutput();
+            nullTupleBuilder.reset();
+            for (int i = 0; i < inputRecDesc.getFields().length; i++) {
+                nullWriter[i].writeNull(dos);
+                nullTupleBuilder.addFieldEndOffset();
+            }
+
             appender = new FrameTupleAppender(treeIndexOpHelper.getHyracksTaskContext().getFrameSize());
             appender.reset(writeBuffer, true);
 
@@ -164,32 +175,38 @@
                 match = false;
             }
 
+            cloneUpdateTb = new ArrayTupleBuilder(btree.getFieldCount());
+            updateBuffer.setFieldCount(btree.getFieldCount());
         } catch (Exception e) {
             treeIndexOpHelper.deinit();
             throw new HyracksDataException(e);
         }
     }
 
+    //for the join match casesos
     private void writeResults(IFrameTupleAccessor leftAccessor, int tIndex, ITupleReference frameTuple)
             throws Exception {
-        tb.reset();
-        for (int i = 0; i < inputRecDesc.getFields().length; i++) {
-            int tupleStart = leftAccessor.getTupleStartOffset(tIndex);
-            int fieldStart = leftAccessor.getFieldStartOffset(tIndex, i);
-            int offset = leftAccessor.getFieldSlotsLength() + tupleStart + fieldStart;
-            int len = leftAccessor.getFieldEndOffset(tIndex, i) - fieldStart;
-            dos.write(leftAccessor.getBuffer().array(), offset, len);
-            tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-        }
-        for (int i = 0; i < frameTuple.getFieldCount(); i++) {
-            dos.write(frameTuple.getFieldData(i), frameTuple.getFieldStart(i), frameTuple.getFieldLength(i));
-            tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-        }
-
         /**
          * function call
          */
-        functionProxy.functionCall(tb, frameTuple);
+        functionProxy.functionCall(leftAccessor, tIndex, frameTuple, cloneUpdateTb);
+
+        //doing clone update
+        if (cloneUpdateTb.getSize() > 0) {
+            if (!updateBuffer.appendTuple(cloneUpdateTb)) {
+                //release the cursor/latch
+                cursor.close();
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
+
+                //search again and recover the cursor
+                cursor.reset();
+                rangePred.setLowKey(frameTuple, true);
+                rangePred.setHighKey(null, true);
+                indexAccessor.search(cursor, rangePred);
+            }
+            cloneUpdateTb.reset();
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -243,6 +260,8 @@
             }
             try {
                 cursor.close();
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 throw new HyracksDataException(e);
             }
@@ -271,20 +290,27 @@
 
     /** write result for outer case */
     private void writeResults(ITupleReference frameTuple) throws Exception {
-        tb.reset();
-        for (int i = 0; i < inputRecDesc.getFields().length; i++) {
-            nullWriter[i].writeNull(dos);
-            tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-        }
-        for (int i = 0; i < frameTuple.getFieldCount(); i++) {
-            dos.write(frameTuple.getFieldData(i), frameTuple.getFieldStart(i), frameTuple.getFieldLength(i));
-            tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-        }
-
         /**
          * function call
          */
-        functionProxy.functionCall(tb, frameTuple);
+        functionProxy.functionCall(nullTupleBuilder, frameTuple, cloneUpdateTb);
+
+        //doing clone update
+        if (cloneUpdateTb.getSize() > 0) {
+            if (!updateBuffer.appendTuple(cloneUpdateTb)) {
+                //release the cursor/latch
+                cursor.close();
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
+
+                //search again and recover the cursor
+                cursor.reset();
+                rangePred.setLowKey(frameTuple, true);
+                rangePred.setHighKey(null, true);
+                indexAccessor.search(cursor, rangePred);
+            }
+            cloneUpdateTb.reset();
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopSetUnionFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopSetUnionFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
index 0a966b5..6af60a8 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopSetUnionFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/IndexNestedLoopSetUnionFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable.java
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
  */
 package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std;
 
-import java.io.DataOutput;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameTupleAccessor;
@@ -44,6 +43,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRuntimeHookFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IUpdateFunctionFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.FunctionProxy;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.UpdateBuffer;
 
 public class IndexNestedLoopSetUnionFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable extends AbstractUnaryInputOperatorNodePushable {
     private TreeIndexDataflowHelper treeIndexOpHelper;
@@ -51,8 +51,6 @@
 
     private ByteBuffer writeBuffer;
     private FrameTupleAppender appender;
-    private ArrayTupleBuilder tb;
-    private DataOutput dos;
 
     private BTree btree;
     private boolean isForward;
@@ -63,8 +61,6 @@
     protected ITreeIndexAccessor indexAccessor;
 
     private RecordDescriptor recDesc;
-    private final RecordDescriptor inputRecDesc;
-
     private PermutingFrameTupleReference lowKey;
     private PermutingFrameTupleReference highKey;
 
@@ -73,13 +69,14 @@
 
     private final IFrameWriter[] writers;
     private final FunctionProxy functionProxy;
+    private ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb;
+    private UpdateBuffer updateBuffer;
 
     public IndexNestedLoopSetUnionFunctionUpdateOperatorNodePushable(AbstractTreeIndexOperatorDescriptor opDesc,
             IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int partition, IRecordDescriptorProvider recordDescProvider, boolean isForward,
             int[] lowKeyFields, int[] highKeyFields, IUpdateFunctionFactory functionFactory,
             IRuntimeHookFactory preHookFactory, IRuntimeHookFactory postHookFactory,
             IRecordDescriptorFactory inputRdFactory, int outputArity) {
-        inputRecDesc = recordDescProvider.getInputRecordDescriptor(opDesc.getActivityId(), 0);
         treeIndexOpHelper = (TreeIndexDataflowHelper) opDesc.getIndexDataflowHelperFactory().createIndexDataflowHelper(
                 opDesc, ctx, partition);
         this.isForward = isForward;
@@ -97,6 +94,7 @@
         this.writers = new IFrameWriter[outputArity];
         this.functionProxy = new FunctionProxy(ctx, functionFactory, preHookFactory, postHookFactory, inputRdFactory,
                 writers);
+        this.updateBuffer = new UpdateBuffer(ctx, 2);
     }
 
     protected void setCursor() {
@@ -123,8 +121,6 @@
             lowKeySearchCmp = new MultiComparator(lowKeySearchComparators);
 
             writeBuffer = treeIndexOpHelper.getHyracksTaskContext().allocateFrame();
-            tb = new ArrayTupleBuilder(btree.getFieldCount());
-            dos = tb.getDataOutput();
             appender = new FrameTupleAppender(treeIndexOpHelper.getHyracksTaskContext().getFrameSize());
             appender.reset(writeBuffer, true);
 
@@ -142,7 +138,8 @@
                 currentTopTuple = cursor.getTuple();
                 match = false;
             }
-
+            cloneUpdateTb = new ArrayTupleBuilder(btree.getFieldCount());
+            updateBuffer.setFieldCount(btree.getFieldCount());
         } catch (Exception e) {
             treeIndexOpHelper.deinit();
             throw new HyracksDataException(e);
@@ -207,6 +204,9 @@
             }
             try {
                 cursor.close();
+
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 throw new HyracksDataException(e);
             }
@@ -231,29 +231,47 @@
 
     /** write the right result */
     private void writeRightResults(ITupleReference frameTuple) throws Exception {
-        tb.reset();
-        for (int i = 0; i < frameTuple.getFieldCount(); i++) {
-            dos.write(frameTuple.getFieldData(i), frameTuple.getFieldStart(i), frameTuple.getFieldLength(i));
-            tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-        }
+        functionProxy.functionCall(frameTuple, cloneUpdateTb);
 
-        functionProxy.functionCall(tb, frameTuple);
+        //doing clone update
+        if (cloneUpdateTb.getSize() > 0) {
+            if (!updateBuffer.appendTuple(cloneUpdateTb)) {
+                //release the cursor/latch
+                cursor.close();
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
+
+                //search again
+                cursor.reset();
+                rangePred.setLowKey(frameTuple, true);
+                rangePred.setHighKey(null, true);
+                indexAccessor.search(cursor, rangePred);
+            }
+            cloneUpdateTb.reset();
+        }
     }
 
     /** write the left result */
     private void writeLeftResults(IFrameTupleAccessor leftAccessor, int tIndex, ITupleReference frameTuple)
             throws Exception {
-        tb.reset();
-        for (int i = 0; i < inputRecDesc.getFields().length; i++) {
-            int tupleStart = leftAccessor.getTupleStartOffset(tIndex);
-            int fieldStart = leftAccessor.getFieldStartOffset(tIndex, i);
-            int offset = leftAccessor.getFieldSlotsLength() + tupleStart + fieldStart;
-            int len = leftAccessor.getFieldEndOffset(tIndex, i) - fieldStart;
-            dos.write(leftAccessor.getBuffer().array(), offset, len);
-            tb.addFieldEndOffset();
-        }
+        functionProxy.functionCall(leftAccessor, tIndex, frameTuple, cloneUpdateTb);
 
-        functionProxy.functionCall(tb, frameTuple);
+        //doing clone update
+        if (cloneUpdateTb.getSize() > 0) {
+            if (!updateBuffer.appendTuple(cloneUpdateTb)) {
+                //release the cursor/latch
+                cursor.close();
+                //batch update
+                updateBuffer.updateBTree(indexAccessor);
+
+                //search again
+                cursor.reset();
+                rangePred.setLowKey(frameTuple, true);
+                rangePred.setHighKey(null, true);
+                indexAccessor.search(cursor, rangePred);
+            }
+            cloneUpdateTb.reset();
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/FunctionProxy.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/FunctionProxy.java
index 4b0f4a5..82ac18e 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/FunctionProxy.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/FunctionProxy.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util;
 
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameTupleAccessor;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameWriter;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.context.IHyracksTaskContext;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.dataflow.value.RecordDescriptor;
@@ -68,16 +69,19 @@
     /**
      * Call the function
      * 
-     * @param tb
-     *            input data
+     * @param leftAccessor
+     *            input page accessor
+     * @param leftTupleIndex
+     *            the tuple index in the page
      * @param updateRef
      *            update pointer
      * @throws HyracksDataException
      */
-    public void functionCall(ArrayTupleBuilder tb, ITupleReference updateRef) throws HyracksDataException {
-        Object[] tuple = tupleDe.deserializeRecord(tb);
+    public void functionCall(IFrameTupleAccessor leftAccessor, int leftTupleIndex, ITupleReference right,
+            ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb) throws HyracksDataException {
+        Object[] tuple = tupleDe.deserializeRecord(leftAccessor, leftTupleIndex, right);
         function.process(tuple);
-        function.update(updateRef);
+        function.update(right, cloneUpdateTb);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -86,10 +90,26 @@
      * @param updateRef
      * @throws HyracksDataException
      */
-    public void functionCall(ITupleReference updateRef) throws HyracksDataException {
+    public void functionCall(ITupleReference updateRef, ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb) throws HyracksDataException {
         Object[] tuple = tupleDe.deserializeRecord(updateRef);
         function.process(tuple);
-        function.update(updateRef);
+        function.update(updateRef, cloneUpdateTb);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call the function
+     * 
+     * @param tb
+     *            input data
+     * @param inPlaceUpdateRef
+     *            update pointer
+     * @throws HyracksDataException
+     */
+    public void functionCall(ArrayTupleBuilder tb, ITupleReference inPlaceUpdateRef, ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb)
+            throws HyracksDataException {
+        Object[] tuple = tupleDe.deserializeRecord(tb, inPlaceUpdateRef);
+        function.process(tuple);
+        function.update(inPlaceUpdateRef, cloneUpdateTb);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/TupleDeserializer.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/TupleDeserializer.java
index 5ae1d81..4fe83db 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/TupleDeserializer.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/TupleDeserializer.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameTupleAccessor;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.dataflow.value.RecordDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.io.ArrayTupleBuilder;
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@
     }
 
     public Object[] deserializeRecord(ITupleReference tupleRef) throws HyracksDataException {
-        for (int i = 0; i < record.length; ++i) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < tupleRef.getFieldCount(); ++i) {
             byte[] data = tupleRef.getFieldData(i);
             int offset = tupleRef.getFieldStart(i);
             bbis.setByteArray(data, offset);
@@ -65,11 +66,65 @@
         return record;
     }
 
-    public Object[] deserializeRecord(ArrayTupleBuilder tb) throws HyracksDataException {
+    public Object[] deserializeRecord(IFrameTupleAccessor left, int tIndex, ITupleReference right)
+            throws HyracksDataException {
+        byte[] data = left.getBuffer().array();
+        int tStart = left.getTupleStartOffset(tIndex) + left.getFieldSlotsLength();
+        int leftFieldCount = left.getFieldCount();
+        int fStart = tStart;
+        for (int i = 0; i < leftFieldCount; ++i) {
+            /**
+             * reset the input
+             */
+            fStart = tStart + left.getFieldStartOffset(tIndex, i);
+            bbis.setByteArray(data, fStart);
+
+            /**
+             * do deserialization
+             */
+            Object instance = recordDescriptor.getFields()[i].deserialize(di);
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
+                LOGGER.finest(i + " " + instance);
+            }
+            record[i] = instance;
+            if (FrameConstants.DEBUG_FRAME_IO) {
+                try {
+                    if (di.readInt() != FrameConstants.FRAME_FIELD_MAGIC) {
+                        throw new HyracksDataException("Field magic mismatch");
+                    }
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        for (int i = leftFieldCount; i < record.length; ++i) {
+            byte[] rightData = right.getFieldData(i - leftFieldCount);
+            int rightOffset = right.getFieldStart(i - leftFieldCount);
+            bbis.setByteArray(rightData, rightOffset);
+
+            Object instance = recordDescriptor.getFields()[i].deserialize(di);
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
+                LOGGER.finest(i + " " + instance);
+            }
+            record[i] = instance;
+            if (FrameConstants.DEBUG_FRAME_IO) {
+                try {
+                    if (di.readInt() != FrameConstants.FRAME_FIELD_MAGIC) {
+                        throw new HyracksDataException("Field magic mismatch");
+                    }
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return record;
+    }
+
+    public Object[] deserializeRecord(ArrayTupleBuilder tb, ITupleReference right) throws HyracksDataException {
         byte[] data = tb.getByteArray();
         int[] offset = tb.getFieldEndOffsets();
         int start = 0;
-        for (int i = 0; i < record.length; ++i) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < offset.length; ++i) {
             /**
              * reset the input
              */
@@ -94,6 +149,26 @@
                 }
             }
         }
+        for (int i = offset.length; i < record.length; ++i) {
+            byte[] rightData = right.getFieldData(i - offset.length);
+            int rightOffset = right.getFieldStart(i - offset.length);
+            bbis.setByteArray(rightData, rightOffset);
+
+            Object instance = recordDescriptor.getFields()[i].deserialize(di);
+            if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
+                LOGGER.finest(i + " " + instance);
+            }
+            record[i] = instance;
+            if (FrameConstants.DEBUG_FRAME_IO) {
+                try {
+                    if (di.readInt() != FrameConstants.FRAME_FIELD_MAGIC) {
+                        throw new HyracksDataException("Field magic mismatch");
+                    }
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace();
+                }
+            }
+        }
         return record;
     }
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/UpdateBuffer.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/UpdateBuffer.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a30647
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/UpdateBuffer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ * 
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util;
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameTupleAccessor;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.context.IHyracksTaskContext;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.io.ArrayTupleBuilder;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.io.FrameTupleAppender;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.data.accessors.FrameTupleReference;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.ITreeIndexAccessor;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.storage.am.common.api.IndexException;
+
+/**
+ * The buffer to hold updates.
+ * We do a batch update for the B-tree during index search and join so that
+ * avoid to open/close cursors frequently.
+ */
+public class UpdateBuffer {
+
+    private int currentInUse = 0;
+    private final int pageLimit;
+    private final List<ByteBuffer> buffers = new ArrayList<ByteBuffer>();
+    private final FrameTupleAppender appender;
+    private final IHyracksTaskContext ctx;
+    private final FrameTupleReference tuple = new FrameTupleReference();
+    private final int frameSize;
+    private IFrameTupleAccessor fta;
+
+    public UpdateBuffer(int numPages, IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int fieldCount) {
+        this.appender = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
+        ByteBuffer buffer = ctx.allocateFrame();
+        this.buffers.add(buffer);
+        this.appender.reset(buffer, true);
+        this.pageLimit = numPages;
+        this.ctx = ctx;
+        this.frameSize = ctx.getFrameSize();
+        this.fta = new UpdateBufferTupleAccessor(frameSize, fieldCount);
+    }
+
+    public UpdateBuffer(IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int fieldCount) {
+        //by default, the update buffer has 1000 pages
+        this(1000, ctx, fieldCount);
+    }
+
+    public void setFieldCount(int fieldCount) {
+        if (fta.getFieldCount() != fieldCount) {
+            this.fta = new UpdateBufferTupleAccessor(frameSize, fieldCount);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public boolean appendTuple(ArrayTupleBuilder tb) throws HyracksDataException {
+        if (!appender.append(tb.getFieldEndOffsets(), tb.getByteArray(), 0, tb.getSize())) {
+            if (currentInUse + 1 < pageLimit) {
+                // move to the new buffer
+                currentInUse++;
+                allocate(currentInUse);
+                ByteBuffer buffer = buffers.get(currentInUse);
+                appender.reset(buffer, true);
+
+                if (!appender.append(tb.getFieldEndOffsets(), tb.getByteArray(), 0, tb.getSize())) {
+                    throw new HyracksDataException("tuple cannot be appended to a new frame!");
+                }
+                return true;
+            } else {
+                return false;
+            }
+        } else {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void updateBTree(ITreeIndexAccessor bta) throws HyracksDataException, IndexException {
+        // batch update
+        for (int i = 0; i <= currentInUse; i++) {
+            ByteBuffer buffer = buffers.get(i);
+            fta.reset(buffer);
+            for (int j = 0; j < fta.getTupleCount(); j++) {
+                tuple.reset(fta, j);
+                bta.update(tuple);
+            }
+        }
+
+        //cleanup the buffer
+        currentInUse = 0;
+        ByteBuffer buffer = buffers.get(0);
+        appender.reset(buffer, true);
+    }
+
+    private void allocate(int index) {
+        if (index >= buffers.size()) {
+            buffers.add(ctx.allocateFrame());
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/UpdateBufferTupleAccessor.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/UpdateBufferTupleAccessor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39f1361
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/util/UpdateBufferTupleAccessor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ * 
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util;
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.FrameHelper;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameTupleAccessor;
+
+public final class UpdateBufferTupleAccessor implements IFrameTupleAccessor {
+    private final int frameSize;
+    private final int fieldCount;
+    private ByteBuffer buffer;
+
+    public UpdateBufferTupleAccessor(int frameSize, int fieldCount) {
+        this.frameSize = frameSize;
+        this.fieldCount = fieldCount;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void reset(ByteBuffer buffer) {
+        this.buffer = buffer;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ByteBuffer getBuffer() {
+        return buffer;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getTupleCount() {
+        return buffer.getInt(FrameHelper.getTupleCountOffset(frameSize));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getTupleStartOffset(int tupleIndex) {
+        return tupleIndex == 0 ? 0 : buffer.getInt(FrameHelper.getTupleCountOffset(frameSize) - 4 * tupleIndex);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getTupleEndOffset(int tupleIndex) {
+        return buffer.getInt(FrameHelper.getTupleCountOffset(frameSize) - 4 * (tupleIndex + 1));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getFieldStartOffset(int tupleIndex, int fIdx) {
+        return fIdx == 0 ? 0 : buffer.getInt(getTupleStartOffset(tupleIndex) + (fIdx - 1) * 4);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getFieldEndOffset(int tupleIndex, int fIdx) {
+        return buffer.getInt(getTupleStartOffset(tupleIndex) + fIdx * 4);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getFieldLength(int tupleIndex, int fIdx) {
+        return getFieldEndOffset(tupleIndex, fIdx) - getFieldStartOffset(tupleIndex, fIdx);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getFieldSlotsLength() {
+        return getFieldCount() * 4;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int getFieldCount() {
+        return fieldCount;
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/pom.xml
index aaa7186..31b6adc 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/pom.xml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.5</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<filesets>
 						<fileset>
@@ -143,5 +144,12 @@
 			<type>jar</type>
 			<scope>compile</scope>
 		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
+			<artifactId>hyracks-hdfs</artifactId>
+			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+			<type>jar</type>
+			<scope>compile</scope>
+		</dependency>
 	</dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor.java
index f1b98f5..cb0e339 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor.java
@@ -17,8 +17,9 @@
 import java.io.DataOutput;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.util.FrameUtils;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.std.base.AbstractSingleActivityOperatorDescriptor;
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.std.base.AbstractUnaryOutputSourceOperatorNodePushable;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.hdfs2.dataflow.FileSplitsFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Vertex;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.VertexInputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.VertexReader;
@@ -50,26 +52,36 @@
 
 @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
 public class VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor extends AbstractSingleActivityOperatorDescriptor {
-    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor.class.getName());
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
-    private final List<InputSplit> splits;
+    private final FileSplitsFactory splitsFactory;
     private final IConfigurationFactory confFactory;
     private final int fieldSize = 2;
+    private final String[] scheduledLocations;
+    private final boolean[] executed;
 
     /**
      * @param spec
      */
     public VertexFileScanOperatorDescriptor(JobSpecification spec, RecordDescriptor rd, List<InputSplit> splits,
-            IConfigurationFactory confFactory) throws HyracksException {
+            String[] scheduledLocations, IConfigurationFactory confFactory) throws HyracksException {
         super(spec, 0, 1);
-        this.splits = splits;
+        List<FileSplit> fileSplits = new ArrayList<FileSplit>();
+        for (int i = 0; i < splits.size(); i++) {
+            fileSplits.add((FileSplit) splits.get(i));
+        }
+        this.splitsFactory = new FileSplitsFactory(fileSplits);
         this.confFactory = confFactory;
+        this.scheduledLocations = scheduledLocations;
+        this.executed = new boolean[scheduledLocations.length];
+        Arrays.fill(executed, false);
         this.recordDescriptors[0] = rd;
     }
 
     public IOperatorNodePushable createPushRuntime(final IHyracksTaskContext ctx,
             IRecordDescriptorProvider recordDescProvider, final int partition, final int nPartitions)
             throws HyracksDataException {
+        final List<FileSplit> splits = splitsFactory.getSplits();
+
         return new AbstractUnaryOutputSourceOperatorNodePushable() {
             private Configuration conf = confFactory.createConfiguration();
 
@@ -78,7 +90,21 @@
                 try {
                     Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(this.getClass().getClassLoader());
                     writer.open();
-                    loadVertices(ctx, partition);
+                    for (int i = 0; i < scheduledLocations.length; i++) {
+                        if (scheduledLocations[i].equals(ctx.getJobletContext().getApplicationContext().getNodeId())) {
+                            /**
+                             * pick one from the FileSplit queue
+                             */
+                            synchronized (executed) {
+                                if (!executed[i]) {
+                                    executed[i] = true;
+                                } else {
+                                    continue;
+                                }
+                            }
+                            loadVertices(ctx, i);
+                        }
+                    }
                     writer.close();
                 } catch (Exception e) {
                     throw new HyracksDataException(e);
@@ -96,7 +122,7 @@
              * @throws InterruptedException
              */
             @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
-            private void loadVertices(final IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int partitionId) throws IOException,
+            private void loadVertices(final IHyracksTaskContext ctx, int splitId) throws IOException,
                     ClassNotFoundException, InterruptedException, InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException {
                 ByteBuffer frame = ctx.allocateFrame();
                 FrameTupleAppender appender = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
@@ -104,14 +130,8 @@
 
                 VertexInputFormat vertexInputFormat = BspUtils.createVertexInputFormat(conf);
                 TaskAttemptContext context = new TaskAttemptContext(conf, new TaskAttemptID());
-                InputSplit split = splits.get(partition);
+                InputSplit split = splits.get(splitId);
 
-                if (split instanceof FileSplit) {
-                    FileSplit fileSplit = (FileSplit) split;
-                    LOGGER.info("read file split: " + fileSplit.getPath() + " location:" + fileSplit.getLocations()[0]
-                            + " start:" + fileSplit.getStart() + " length:" + split.getLength() + " partition:"
-                            + partition);
-                }
                 VertexReader vertexReader = vertexInputFormat.createVertexReader(split, context);
                 vertexReader.initialize(split, context);
                 Vertex readerVertex = (Vertex) BspUtils.createVertex(conf);
@@ -122,7 +142,7 @@
                  * set context
                  */
                 Context mapperContext = new Mapper().new Context(conf, new TaskAttemptID(), null, null, null, null,
-                        splits.get(partition));
+                        splits.get(splitId));
                 Vertex.setContext(mapperContext);
 
                 /**
@@ -166,5 +186,4 @@
             }
         };
     }
-
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/FileWriteOperatorDescriptor.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor.java
similarity index 89%
rename from pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/FileWriteOperatorDescriptor.java
rename to pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor.java
index 356f06c..d7cbb3a 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow-std/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/std/FileWriteOperatorDescriptor.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor.java
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
  */
-package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std;
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow;
 
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -35,14 +35,14 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRecordDescriptorFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.std.base.IRuntimeHookFactory;
 
-public class FileWriteOperatorDescriptor extends AbstractSingleActivityOperatorDescriptor {
+public class VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor extends AbstractSingleActivityOperatorDescriptor {
     private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
     private final FileSplit[] splits;
     private final IRuntimeHookFactory preHookFactory;
     private final IRuntimeHookFactory postHookFactory;
     private final IRecordDescriptorFactory inputRdFactory;
 
-    public FileWriteOperatorDescriptor(JobSpecification spec, IRecordDescriptorFactory inputRdFactory,
+    public VertexWriteOperatorDescriptor(JobSpecification spec, IRecordDescriptorFactory inputRdFactory,
             IFileSplitProvider fileSplitProvider, IRuntimeHookFactory preHookFactory,
             IRuntimeHookFactory postHookFactory) {
         super(spec, 1, 0);
@@ -60,7 +60,6 @@
             private RecordDescriptor rd0;
             private FrameDeserializer frameDeserializer;
             private PrintWriter outputWriter;
-            private final static String separator = "|";
 
             @Override
             public void open() throws HyracksDataException {
@@ -82,10 +81,7 @@
                 frameDeserializer.reset(frame);
                 while (!frameDeserializer.done()) {
                     Object[] tuple = frameDeserializer.deserializeRecord();
-                    for (int i = 0; i < tuple.length - 1; i++) {
-                        outputWriter.print(StringSerializationUtils.toString(tuple[i]));
-                        outputWriter.print(separator);
-                    }
+                    // output the vertex
                     outputWriter.print(StringSerializationUtils.toString(tuple[tuple.length - 1]));
                     outputWriter.println();
                 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/context/RuntimeContext.java b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/context/RuntimeContext.java
index 43b6d17..567e220 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/context/RuntimeContext.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dataflow/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/dataflow/context/RuntimeContext.java
@@ -119,23 +119,23 @@
             Vertex.setNumEdges(numEdges);
             giraphJobIdToSuperStep.put(giraphJobId, superStep);
             giraphJobIdToMove.put(giraphJobId, false);
-            LOGGER.info("start iteration " + Vertex.getCurrentSuperstep());
+            LOGGER.info("start iteration " + Vertex.getSuperstep());
         }
         System.gc();
     }
 
     public synchronized void endSuperStep(String giraphJobId) {
         giraphJobIdToMove.put(giraphJobId, true);
-        LOGGER.info("end iteration " + Vertex.getCurrentSuperstep());
+        LOGGER.info("end iteration " + Vertex.getSuperstep());
     }
 
     @Override
     public FileReference createManagedWorkspaceFile(String prefix) throws HyracksDataException {
         final FileReference fRef = ioManager.createWorkspaceFile(prefix);
-        List<FileReference> files = iterationToFiles.get(Vertex.getCurrentSuperstep());
+        List<FileReference> files = iterationToFiles.get(Vertex.getSuperstep());
         if (files == null) {
             files = new ArrayList<FileReference>();
-            iterationToFiles.put(Vertex.getCurrentSuperstep(), files);
+            iterationToFiles.put(Vertex.getSuperstep(), files);
         }
         files.add(fRef);
         return fRef;
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-dist/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-dist/pom.xml
index 4cb0387..aa3d541 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-dist/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-dist/pom.xml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
 			<artifactId>pregelix-core</artifactId>
 			<version>0.2.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
-			<scope>comile</scope>
+			<scope>compile</scope>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.uci.ics.hyracks</groupId>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/data/clique/clique.txt b/pregelix/pregelix-example/data/clique/clique.txt
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..08280e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/data/clique/clique.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+1 2 3 4
+2 1 3 4 5
+3 1 2 4 5
+4 1 2 3
+5 6 7
+6 5 7
+7 5 6
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-example/pom.xml
index 6b9bc89..ce8f985 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/pom.xml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
 				<artifactId>appassembler-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>1.3</version>
 				<executions>
 					<execution>
 						<configuration>
@@ -76,6 +77,7 @@
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.5</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<filesets>
 						<fileset>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ConnectedComponentsVertex.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ConnectedComponentsVertex.java
index 30e88ea..74ae455 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ConnectedComponentsVertex.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ConnectedComponentsVertex.java
@@ -126,6 +126,11 @@
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return getVertexId() + " " + getVertexValue();
+    }
+
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
         PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(ConnectedComponentsVertex.class.getSimpleName());
         job.setVertexClass(ConnectedComponentsVertex.class);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/PageRankVertex.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/PageRankVertex.java
index 290f90e..02e1625 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/PageRankVertex.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/PageRankVertex.java
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
 
     @Override
     public void compute(Iterator<DoubleWritable> msgIterator) {
-        int maxIteration = this.getContext().getConfiguration().getInt(ITERATIONS, 10);
+        int maxIteration = getContext().getConfiguration().getInt(ITERATIONS, 10);
         if (getSuperstep() == 1) {
             tmpVertexValue.set(1.0 / getNumVertices());
             setVertexValue(tmpVertexValue);
@@ -123,13 +123,13 @@
     /**
      * Simple VertexReader that supports {@link SimplePageRankVertex}
      */
-    public static class SimplePageRankVertexReader extends
+    public static class SimulatedPageRankVertexReader extends
             GeneratedVertexReader<VLongWritable, DoubleWritable, FloatWritable, DoubleWritable> {
         /** Class logger */
-        private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(SimplePageRankVertexReader.class.getName());
+        private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getLogger(SimulatedPageRankVertexReader.class.getName());
         private Map<VLongWritable, FloatWritable> edges = Maps.newHashMap();
 
-        public SimplePageRankVertexReader() {
+        public SimulatedPageRankVertexReader() {
             super();
         }
 
@@ -162,12 +162,12 @@
     /**
      * Simple VertexInputFormat that supports {@link SimplePageRankVertex}
      */
-    public static class SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat extends
+    public static class SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat extends
             GeneratedVertexInputFormat<VLongWritable, DoubleWritable, FloatWritable, DoubleWritable> {
         @Override
         public VertexReader<VLongWritable, DoubleWritable, FloatWritable, DoubleWritable> createVertexReader(
                 InputSplit split, TaskAttemptContext context) throws IOException {
-            return new SimplePageRankVertexReader();
+            return new SimulatedPageRankVertexReader();
         }
     }
 
@@ -188,6 +188,11 @@
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return getVertexId() + " " + getVertexValue();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Simple VertexOutputFormat that supports {@link SimplePageRankVertex}
      */
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ReachabilityVertex.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ReachabilityVertex.java
index 2f0ca45..daafc82 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ReachabilityVertex.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ReachabilityVertex.java
@@ -160,6 +160,11 @@
         }
         voteToHalt();
     }
+    
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return getVertexId() + " " + getVertexValue();
+    }
 
     private void signalTerminate() {
         Configuration conf = getContext().getConfiguration();
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ShortestPathsVertex.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ShortestPathsVertex.java
index a018f08..199870e 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ShortestPathsVertex.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/ShortestPathsVertex.java
@@ -126,6 +126,11 @@
         }
         voteToHalt();
     }
+    
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return getVertexId() + " " + getVertexValue();
+    }
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
         PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(ShortestPathsVertex.class.getSimpleName());
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/AdjacencyListWritable.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/AdjacencyListWritable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83e0a6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/AdjacencyListWritable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ * 
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique;
+
+import java.io.DataInput;
+import java.io.DataOutput;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.TreeSet;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+
+/**
+ * The adjacency list contains <src, list-of-neighbors>
+ */
+public class AdjacencyListWritable implements Writable {
+
+    private VLongWritable sourceVertex = new VLongWritable();
+    private Set<VLongWritable> destinationVertexes = new TreeSet<VLongWritable>();
+
+    public AdjacencyListWritable() {
+    }
+
+    public void reset() {
+        this.destinationVertexes.clear();
+    }
+
+    public void setSource(VLongWritable source) {
+        this.sourceVertex = source;
+    }
+
+    public void addNeighbor(VLongWritable neighbor) {
+        destinationVertexes.add(neighbor);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void readFields(DataInput input) throws IOException {
+        sourceVertex = new VLongWritable();
+        destinationVertexes.clear();
+        sourceVertex.readFields(input);
+        int numberOfNeighbors = input.readInt();
+        for (int i = 0; i < numberOfNeighbors; i++) {
+            VLongWritable neighbor = new VLongWritable();
+            neighbor.readFields(input);
+            destinationVertexes.add(neighbor);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(DataOutput output) throws IOException {
+        sourceVertex.write(output);
+        output.writeInt(destinationVertexes.size());
+        for (VLongWritable dest : destinationVertexes) {
+            dest.write(output);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public int numberOfNeighbors() {
+        return destinationVertexes.size();
+    }
+
+    public void removeNeighbor(VLongWritable v) {
+        destinationVertexes.remove(v);
+    }
+
+    public VLongWritable getSource() {
+        return sourceVertex;
+    }
+
+    public Iterator<VLongWritable> getNeighbors() {
+        return destinationVertexes.iterator();
+    }
+
+    public void cleanNonMatch(Collection<VLongWritable> matches) {
+        destinationVertexes.retainAll(matches);
+    }
+
+    public boolean isNeighbor(VLongWritable v) {
+        return destinationVertexes.contains(v);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/CliquesWritable.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/CliquesWritable.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e22ea1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/CliquesWritable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ * 
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique;
+
+import java.io.DataInput;
+import java.io.DataOutput;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+
+/**
+ * The representation of cliques stored in a vertex.
+ */
+public class CliquesWritable implements Writable {
+
+    private List<VLongWritable> cliques = new ArrayList<VLongWritable>();
+    private int sizeOfClique = 0;
+
+    public CliquesWritable(List<VLongWritable> cliques, int sizeOfClique) {
+        this.cliques = cliques;
+        this.sizeOfClique = sizeOfClique;
+    }
+
+    public CliquesWritable() {
+
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set the size of cliques.
+     * 
+     * @param sizeOfClique
+     *            the size of each maximal clique
+     */
+    public void setCliqueSize(int sizeOfClique) {
+        this.sizeOfClique = sizeOfClique;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Add the clique vertexes
+     * 
+     * @param cliques
+     *            the list of vertexes -- can contain multiple cliques
+     */
+    public void addCliques(CliquesWritable cliques) {
+        this.cliques.addAll(cliques.cliques);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Add the clique vertexes
+     * 
+     * @param cliques
+     *            the list of vertexes -- can contain multiple cliques
+     */
+    public void addCliques(List<VLongWritable> vertexes) {
+        this.cliques.addAll(vertexes);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return the size of the clique
+     */
+    public int getSizeOfClique() {
+        return sizeOfClique;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * rese the clique
+     */
+    public void reset() {
+        this.cliques.clear();
+        this.sizeOfClique = 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void readFields(DataInput input) throws IOException {
+        cliques.clear();
+        int numCliques = input.readInt();
+        if (numCliques < 0) {
+            sizeOfClique = 0;
+            return;
+        }
+        sizeOfClique = input.readInt();
+        for (int i = 0; i < numCliques; i++) {
+            for (int j = 0; j < sizeOfClique; j++) {
+                VLongWritable vid = new VLongWritable();
+                vid.readFields(input);
+                cliques.add(vid);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(DataOutput output) throws IOException {
+        if (sizeOfClique <= 0) {
+            output.writeInt(-1);
+            return;
+        }
+        output.writeInt(cliques.size() / sizeOfClique);
+        output.writeInt(sizeOfClique);
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < cliques.size(); i++) {
+            cliques.get(i).write(output);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        if (sizeOfClique == 0)
+            return "";
+        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        int numCliques = cliques.size() / sizeOfClique;
+        for (int i = 0; i < numCliques; i++) {
+            for (int j = 0; j < sizeOfClique - 1; j++) {
+                sb.append(cliques.get(j));
+                sb.append(",");
+            }
+            sb.append(cliques.get(sizeOfClique - 1));
+            sb.append(";");
+        }
+        return sb.toString();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/MaximalCliqueAggregator.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/MaximalCliqueAggregator.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..061e9e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/MaximalCliqueAggregator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.NullWritable;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.GlobalAggregator;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Vertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+
+/**
+ * The global aggregator aggregates the count of triangles
+ */
+public class MaximalCliqueAggregator
+        extends
+        GlobalAggregator<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, AdjacencyListWritable, CliquesWritable, CliquesWritable> {
+
+    private CliquesWritable state = new CliquesWritable();
+
+    @Override
+    public void init() {
+        state.reset();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void step(Vertex<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, AdjacencyListWritable> v)
+            throws HyracksDataException {
+        CliquesWritable cliques = v.getVertexValue();
+        updateAggregateState(cliques);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Update the current aggregate state
+     * 
+     * @param cliques the incoming cliques
+     */
+    private void updateAggregateState(CliquesWritable cliques) {
+        if (cliques.getSizeOfClique() > state.getSizeOfClique()) {
+            //reset the vertex state
+            state.reset();
+            state.setCliqueSize(cliques.getSizeOfClique());
+            state.addCliques(cliques);
+        } else if (cliques.getSizeOfClique() == state.getSizeOfClique()) {
+            //add the new cliques
+            state.addCliques(cliques);
+        } else {
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void step(CliquesWritable partialResult) {
+        updateAggregateState(partialResult);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public CliquesWritable finishPartial() {
+        return state;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public CliquesWritable finishFinal() {
+        return state;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/MaximalCliqueVertex.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/MaximalCliqueVertex.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..266feb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/MaximalCliqueVertex.java
@@ -0,0 +1,347 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ * 
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.BitSet;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.TreeMap;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.NullWritable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.RecordWriter;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskAttemptContext;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Edge;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Vertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.VertexWriter;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexOutputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexOutputFormat.TextVertexWriter;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.job.PregelixJob;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.util.BspUtils;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.IterationUtils;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.client.Client;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TriangleCountingVertex;
+
+/**
+ * The maximal clique example -- find maximal cliques in an undirected graph.
+ * The result cliques contains vertexes ordered by the vertex id ascendingly. The algorithm takes
+ * advantage of that property to do effective pruning.
+ */
+public class MaximalCliqueVertex extends Vertex<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, AdjacencyListWritable> {
+
+    private Map<VLongWritable, AdjacencyListWritable> map = new TreeMap<VLongWritable, AdjacencyListWritable>();
+    private List<VLongWritable> vertexList = new ArrayList<VLongWritable>();
+    private Map<VLongWritable, Integer> invertedMap = new TreeMap<VLongWritable, Integer>();
+    private int largestCliqueSizeSoFar = 0;
+    private List<BitSet> currentMaximalCliques = new ArrayList<BitSet>();
+    private CliquesWritable tmpValue = new CliquesWritable();
+    private List<VLongWritable> cliques = new ArrayList<VLongWritable>();
+
+    /**
+     * Update the current maximal cliques
+     * 
+     * @param values
+     *            the received adjcency lists
+     */
+    private void updateCurrentMaximalCliques(Iterator<AdjacencyListWritable> values) {
+        map.clear();
+        vertexList.clear();
+        invertedMap.clear();
+        currentMaximalCliques.clear();
+        cliques.clear();
+        tmpValue.reset();
+
+        // build the initial sub graph
+        while (values.hasNext()) {
+            AdjacencyListWritable adj = values.next();
+            map.put(adj.getSource(), adj);
+        }
+        VLongWritable srcId = getVertexId();
+        map.put(srcId, new AdjacencyListWritable());
+
+        // build the vertex list (vertex id in ascending order) and the inverted list of vertexes
+        int i = 0;
+        for (VLongWritable v : map.keySet()) {
+            vertexList.add(v);
+            invertedMap.put(v, i++);
+        }
+
+        //clean up adjacency list --- remove vertexes who are not neighbors of key
+        for (AdjacencyListWritable adj : map.values()) {
+            adj.cleanNonMatch(vertexList);
+        }
+
+        // get the h-index of the subgraph --- which is the maximum depth to explore
+        int[] neighborCounts = new int[map.size()];
+        i = 0;
+        for (AdjacencyListWritable adj : map.values()) {
+            neighborCounts[i++] = adj.numberOfNeighbors();
+        }
+        Arrays.sort(neighborCounts);
+        int h = 0;
+        for (i = neighborCounts.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
+            if (h >= neighborCounts[i]) {
+                break;
+            }
+            h++;
+        }
+        if (h < largestCliqueSizeSoFar) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        //start depth-first search
+        BitSet cliqueSoFar = new BitSet(h);
+        for (VLongWritable v : vertexList) {
+            cliqueSoFar.set(invertedMap.get(v));
+            searchClique(h, cliqueSoFar, 1, v);
+            cliqueSoFar.clear();
+        }
+
+        //output local maximal cliques
+        for (BitSet clique : currentMaximalCliques) {
+            int keyIndex = invertedMap.get(srcId);
+            clique.set(keyIndex);
+            generateClique(clique);
+            tmpValue.addCliques(cliques);
+            tmpValue.setCliqueSize(clique.cardinality());
+        }
+
+        //update the vertex state
+        setVertexValue(tmpValue);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Output a clique with vertex ids.
+     * 
+     * @param clique
+     *            the bitmap representation of a clique
+     */
+    private void generateClique(BitSet clique) {
+        for (int j = 0; j < clique.length();) {
+            j = clique.nextSetBit(j);
+            VLongWritable v = vertexList.get(j);
+            cliques.add(v);
+            j++;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * find cliques using the depth-first search
+     * 
+     * @param maxDepth
+     *            the maximum search depth
+     * @param cliqueSoFar
+     *            the the cliques found so far
+     * @param depthSoFar
+     *            the current search depth
+     * @param currentSource
+     *            the vertex to be added into the clique
+     */
+    private void searchClique(int maxDepth, BitSet cliqueSoFar, int depthSoFar, VLongWritable currentSource) {
+        if (depthSoFar > maxDepth) {
+            // update maximal clique info
+            updateMaximalClique(cliqueSoFar);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        AdjacencyListWritable adj = map.get(currentSource);
+        Iterator<VLongWritable> neighbors = adj.getNeighbors();
+        ++depthSoFar;
+        while (neighbors.hasNext()) {
+            VLongWritable neighbor = neighbors.next();
+            if (!isTested(neighbor, cliqueSoFar) && isClique(neighbor, cliqueSoFar)) {
+                //snapshot the clique
+                int cliqueLength = cliqueSoFar.length();
+                // expand the clique
+                cliqueSoFar.set(invertedMap.get(neighbor));
+                searchClique(maxDepth, cliqueSoFar, depthSoFar, neighbor);
+                // back to the snapshot clique
+                cliqueSoFar.set(cliqueLength, cliqueSoFar.length(), false);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // update maximal clique info
+        updateMaximalClique(cliqueSoFar);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Update the maximal clique to a larger one if it exists
+     * 
+     * @param cliqueSoFar
+     *            the clique so far, in the bitmap representation
+     */
+    private void updateMaximalClique(BitSet cliqueSoFar) {
+        int cliqueSize = cliqueSoFar.cardinality();
+        if (cliqueSize > largestCliqueSizeSoFar) {
+            currentMaximalCliques.clear();
+            currentMaximalCliques.add((BitSet) cliqueSoFar.clone());
+            largestCliqueSizeSoFar = cliqueSize;
+        } else if (cliqueSize == largestCliqueSizeSoFar) {
+            currentMaximalCliques.add((BitSet) cliqueSoFar.clone());
+        } else {
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Should we test the vertex newVertex?
+     * 
+     * @param newVertex
+     *            the vertex to be tested
+     * @param cliqueSoFar
+     *            the current clique, in the bitmap representation
+     * @return true if new vertex has been tested
+     */
+    private boolean isTested(VLongWritable newVertex, BitSet cliqueSoFar) {
+        int index = invertedMap.get(newVertex);
+        int largestSetIndex = cliqueSoFar.length() - 1;
+        if (index > largestSetIndex) {
+            // we only return cliques with vertexes in the ascending order
+            // hence, the new vertex must be larger than the largesetSetIndex in the clique
+            return false;
+        } else {
+            // otherwise, we think the vertex is "tested"
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Will adding the newVertex yield a bigger clique?
+     * 
+     * @param newVertex
+     *            the new vertex id
+     * @param cliqueSoFar
+     *            the bitmap representation of the clique
+     * @return true if adding the new vertex yelds a bigger clique
+     */
+    private boolean isClique(VLongWritable newVertex, BitSet cliqueSoFar) {
+        AdjacencyListWritable adj = map.get(newVertex);
+        // check whether each existing vertex is in the neighbor set of newVertex
+        for (int i = 0; i < cliqueSoFar.length();) {
+            i = cliqueSoFar.nextSetBit(i);
+            VLongWritable v = vertexList.get(i);
+            if (!adj.isNeighbor(v)) {
+                return false;
+            }
+            i++;
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * For superstep 1, send outgoing mesages.
+     * For superstep 2, calculate maximal cliques.
+     * otherwise, vote to halt.
+     */
+    @Override
+    public void compute(Iterator<AdjacencyListWritable> msgIterator) {
+        if (getSuperstep() == 1) {
+            sortEdges();
+            sendOutgoingMsgs(getEdges());
+        } else if (getSuperstep() == 2) {
+            updateCurrentMaximalCliques(msgIterator);
+        } else {
+            voteToHalt();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return getVertexId() + " " + getVertexValue();
+    }
+
+    private static CliquesWritable readMaximalCliqueResult(Configuration conf) {
+        try {
+            CliquesWritable result = (CliquesWritable) IterationUtils.readGlobalAggregateValue(conf,
+                    BspUtils.getJobId(conf));
+            return result;
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+        PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(TriangleCountingVertex.class.getSimpleName());
+        job.setVertexClass(MaximalCliqueVertex.class);
+        job.setGlobalAggregatorClass(MaximalCliqueAggregator.class);
+        job.setDynamicVertexValueSize(true);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexOutputFormatClass(MaximalCliqueVertexOutputFormat.class);
+        Client.run(args, job);
+        System.out.println("maximal cliques: \n" + readMaximalCliqueResult(job.getConfiguration()));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Send the adjacency lists
+     * 
+     * @param edges
+     *            the outgoing edges
+     */
+    private void sendOutgoingMsgs(List<Edge<VLongWritable, NullWritable>> edges) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < edges.size(); i++) {
+            if (edges.get(i).getDestVertexId().get() < getVertexId().get()) {
+                // only add emit for the vertexes whose id is smaller than the vertex id 
+                // to avoid the duplicate removal step,
+                // because all the resulting cliques will have vertexes in the ascending order.
+                AdjacencyListWritable msg = new AdjacencyListWritable();
+                msg.setSource(getVertexId());
+                for (int j = i + 1; j < edges.size(); j++) {
+                    msg.addNeighbor(edges.get(j).getDestVertexId());
+                }
+                sendMsg(edges.get(i).getDestVertexId(), msg);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Maximal Clique VertexWriter
+     */
+    public static class MaximalCliqueVertexWriter extends
+            TextVertexWriter<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable> {
+        public MaximalCliqueVertexWriter(RecordWriter<Text, Text> lineRecordWriter) {
+            super(lineRecordWriter);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void writeVertex(Vertex<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, ?> vertex) throws IOException,
+                InterruptedException {
+            getRecordWriter().write(new Text(vertex.getVertexId().toString()),
+                    new Text(vertex.getVertexValue().toString()));
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * output format for maximal clique
+     */
+    public static class MaximalCliqueVertexOutputFormat extends
+            TextVertexOutputFormat<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable> {
+
+        @Override
+        public VertexWriter<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable> createVertexWriter(TaskAttemptContext context)
+                throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+            RecordWriter<Text, Text> recordWriter = textOutputFormat.getRecordWriter(context);
+            return new MaximalCliqueVertexWriter(recordWriter);
+        }
+
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec7b32c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/maximalclique/TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat.java
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.LongWritable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.NullWritable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.InputSplit;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.RecordReader;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskAttemptContext;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Vertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.VertexReader;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexInputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexInputFormat.TextVertexReader;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.util.BspUtils;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+
+public class TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat extends
+        TextVertexInputFormat<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, AdjacencyListWritable> {
+
+    @Override
+    public VertexReader<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, AdjacencyListWritable> createVertexReader(
+            InputSplit split, TaskAttemptContext context) throws IOException {
+        return new TextMaximalCliqueGraphReader(textInputFormat.createRecordReader(split, context));
+    }
+}
+
+@SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+class TextMaximalCliqueGraphReader extends
+        TextVertexReader<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, AdjacencyListWritable> {
+
+    private final static String separator = " ";
+    private Vertex vertex;
+    private VLongWritable vertexId = new VLongWritable();
+    private List<VLongWritable> pool = new ArrayList<VLongWritable>();
+    private int used = 0;
+
+    public TextMaximalCliqueGraphReader(RecordReader<LongWritable, Text> lineRecordReader) {
+        super(lineRecordReader);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean nextVertex() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+        return getRecordReader().nextKeyValue();
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    @Override
+    public Vertex<VLongWritable, CliquesWritable, NullWritable, AdjacencyListWritable> getCurrentVertex()
+            throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+        used = 0;
+        if (vertex == null)
+            vertex = (Vertex) BspUtils.createVertex(getContext().getConfiguration());
+        vertex.getMsgList().clear();
+        vertex.getEdges().clear();
+
+        vertex.reset();
+        Text line = getRecordReader().getCurrentValue();
+        String[] fields = line.toString().split(separator);
+
+        if (fields.length > 0) {
+            /**
+             * set the src vertex id
+             */
+            long src = Long.parseLong(fields[0]);
+            vertexId.set(src);
+            vertex.setVertexId(vertexId);
+            long dest = -1L;
+
+            /**
+             * set up edges
+             */
+            for (int i = 1; i < fields.length; i++) {
+                dest = Long.parseLong(fields[i]);
+                VLongWritable destId = allocate();
+                destId.set(dest);
+                vertex.addEdge(destId, null);
+            }
+        }
+        return vertex;
+    }
+
+    private VLongWritable allocate() {
+        if (used >= pool.size()) {
+            VLongWritable value = new VLongWritable();
+            pool.add(value);
+            used++;
+            return value;
+        } else {
+            VLongWritable value = pool.get(used);
+            used++;
+            return value;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TextTriangleCountingInputFormat.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TextTriangleCountingInputFormat.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb399ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TextTriangleCountingInputFormat.java
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * you may obtain a copy of the License from
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.LongWritable;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.InputSplit;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.RecordReader;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskAttemptContext;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Vertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.VertexReader;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexInputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexInputFormat.TextVertexReader;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.util.BspUtils;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+
+public class TextTriangleCountingInputFormat extends
+        TextVertexInputFormat<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> {
+
+    @Override
+    public VertexReader<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> createVertexReader(
+            InputSplit split, TaskAttemptContext context) throws IOException {
+        return new TextPageRankGraphReader(textInputFormat.createRecordReader(split, context));
+    }
+}
+
+@SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+class TextPageRankGraphReader extends TextVertexReader<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> {
+
+    private final static String separator = " ";
+    private Vertex vertex;
+    private VLongWritable vertexId = new VLongWritable();
+    private List<VLongWritable> pool = new ArrayList<VLongWritable>();
+    private int used = 0;
+
+    public TextPageRankGraphReader(RecordReader<LongWritable, Text> lineRecordReader) {
+        super(lineRecordReader);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean nextVertex() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+        return getRecordReader().nextKeyValue();
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    @Override
+    public Vertex<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> getCurrentVertex() throws IOException,
+            InterruptedException {
+        used = 0;
+        if (vertex == null)
+            vertex = (Vertex) BspUtils.createVertex(getContext().getConfiguration());
+        vertex.getMsgList().clear();
+        vertex.getEdges().clear();
+
+        vertex.reset();
+        Text line = getRecordReader().getCurrentValue();
+        String[] fields = line.toString().split(separator);
+
+        if (fields.length > 0) {
+            /**
+             * set the src vertex id
+             */
+            long src = Long.parseLong(fields[0]);
+            vertexId.set(src);
+            vertex.setVertexId(vertexId);
+            long dest = -1L;
+
+            /**
+             * set up edges
+             */
+            for (int i = 1; i < fields.length; i++) {
+                dest = Long.parseLong(fields[i]);
+                VLongWritable destId = allocate();
+                destId.set(dest);
+                vertex.addEdge(destId, null);
+            }
+        }
+        // vertex.sortEdges();
+        return vertex;
+    }
+
+    private VLongWritable allocate() {
+        if (used >= pool.size()) {
+            VLongWritable value = new VLongWritable();
+            pool.add(value);
+            used++;
+            return value;
+        } else {
+            VLongWritable value = pool.get(used);
+            used++;
+            return value;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TriangleCountingAggregator.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TriangleCountingAggregator.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67b028d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TriangleCountingAggregator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.GlobalAggregator;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Vertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+
+/**
+ * The global aggregator aggregates the count of triangles
+ */
+public class TriangleCountingAggregator extends
+        GlobalAggregator<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> {
+
+    private VLongWritable state = new VLongWritable(0);
+
+    @Override
+    public void init() {
+        state.set(0);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void step(Vertex<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> v) throws HyracksDataException {
+        state.set(state.get() + v.getVertexValue().get());
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void step(VLongWritable partialResult) {
+        state.set(state.get() + partialResult.get());
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public VLongWritable finishPartial() {
+        return state;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public VLongWritable finishFinal() {
+        return state;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TriangleCountingVertex.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TriangleCountingVertex.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3db095
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/trianglecounting/TriangleCountingVertex.java
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.RecordWriter;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskAttemptContext;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Edge;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.graph.Vertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.VertexWriter;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexOutputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.io.text.TextVertexOutputFormat.TextVertexWriter;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.job.PregelixJob;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.api.util.BspUtils;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.IterationUtils;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.client.Client;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.io.VLongWritable;
+
+/**
+ * The triangle counting example -- counting the triangles in an undirected graph.
+ */
+public class TriangleCountingVertex extends Vertex<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> {
+
+    private VLongWritable tmpValue = new VLongWritable(0);
+    private long triangleCount = 0;
+    private Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable> candidateEdge = new Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable>(
+            new VLongWritable(0), new VLongWritable(0));
+    private EdgeComparator edgeComparator = new EdgeComparator();
+
+    @Override
+    public void compute(Iterator<VLongWritable> msgIterator) {
+        // transforms the edge list into a set to facilitate lookup
+        if (getSuperstep() == 1) {
+            // sorting edges could be avoid if the dataset already has that property
+            sortEdges();
+            List<Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable>> edges = this.getEdges();
+            int numEdges = edges.size();
+
+            //decoding longs
+            long src = getVertexId().get();
+            long[] dests = new long[numEdges];
+            for (int i = 0; i < numEdges; i++) {
+                dests[i] = edges.get(i).getDestVertexId().get();
+            }
+
+            //send messages -- take advantage of that each discovered 
+            //triangle should have vertexes ordered by vertex id
+            for (int i = 0; i < numEdges; i++) {
+                if (dests[i] < src) {
+                    for (int j = i + 1; j < numEdges; j++) {
+                        //send messages -- v_j.id > v_i.id -- guaranteed by sortEdge()
+                        if (dests[j] > src) {
+                            sendMsg(edges.get(i).getDestVertexId(), edges.get(j).getDestVertexId());
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        if (getSuperstep() >= 2) {
+            triangleCount = 0;
+            List<Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable>> edges = this.getEdges();
+            while (msgIterator.hasNext()) {
+                VLongWritable msg = msgIterator.next();
+                candidateEdge.setDestVertexId(msg);
+                if (Collections.binarySearch(edges, candidateEdge, edgeComparator) >= 0) {
+                    // if the msg value is a dest from this vertex
+                    triangleCount++;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // set vertex value
+            tmpValue.set(triangleCount);
+            setVertexValue(tmpValue);
+            voteToHalt();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Triangle Counting VertexWriter
+     */
+    public static class TriangleCountingVertexWriter extends
+            TextVertexWriter<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> {
+        public TriangleCountingVertexWriter(RecordWriter<Text, Text> lineRecordWriter) {
+            super(lineRecordWriter);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void writeVertex(Vertex<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable, ?> vertex) throws IOException,
+                InterruptedException {
+            getRecordWriter().write(new Text(vertex.getVertexId().toString()),
+                    new Text(vertex.getVertexValue().toString()));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return getVertexId() + " " + getVertexValue();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * output format for triangle counting
+     */
+    public static class TriangleCountingVertexOutputFormat extends
+            TextVertexOutputFormat<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> {
+
+        @Override
+        public VertexWriter<VLongWritable, VLongWritable, VLongWritable> createVertexWriter(TaskAttemptContext context)
+                throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+            RecordWriter<Text, Text> recordWriter = textOutputFormat.getRecordWriter(context);
+            return new TriangleCountingVertexWriter(recordWriter);
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    private static long readTriangleCountingResult(Configuration conf) {
+        try {
+            VLongWritable count = (VLongWritable) IterationUtils
+                    .readGlobalAggregateValue(conf, BspUtils.getJobId(conf));
+            return count.get();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+        PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(TriangleCountingVertex.class.getSimpleName());
+        job.setVertexClass(TriangleCountingVertex.class);
+        job.setGlobalAggregatorClass(TriangleCountingAggregator.class);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(TextTriangleCountingInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexOutputFormatClass(TriangleCountingVertexOutputFormat.class);
+        Client.run(args, job);
+        System.out.println("triangle count: " + readTriangleCountingResult(job.getConfiguration()));
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * The comparator for Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable>.
+ */
+class EdgeComparator implements Comparator<Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable>> {
+
+    @Override
+    public int compare(Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable> left, Edge<VLongWritable, VLongWritable> right) {
+        long leftValue = left.getDestVertexId().get();
+        long rightValue = right.getDestVertexId().get();
+        return leftValue > rightValue ? 1 : (leftValue < rightValue ? -1 : 0);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/VertexAggregator.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/utils/VertexAggregator.java
similarity index 98%
rename from pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/VertexAggregator.java
rename to pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/utils/VertexAggregator.java
index 68b7cca..d8f704e 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/VertexAggregator.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/utils/VertexAggregator.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example;
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.utils;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Iterator;
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/VertexSorter.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/utils/VertexSorter.java
similarity index 98%
rename from pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/VertexSorter.java
rename to pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/utils/VertexSorter.java
index 1dd6922..8421088 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/VertexSorter.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/utils/VertexSorter.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example;
+package edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.utils;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Iterator;
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/dataload/DataLoadTest.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/dataload/DataLoadTest.java
index 7787347..37f03a5 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/dataload/DataLoadTest.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/dataload/DataLoadTest.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.jobgen.clusterconfig.ClusterConfig;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.util.PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex;
-import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex.SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex.SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.util.TestUtils;
 
 @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
     public DataLoadTest() throws Exception {
         job = new PregelixJob(GIRAPH_JOB_NAME);
         job.setVertexClass(PageRankVertex.class);
-        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat.class);
         job.getConfiguration().setClass(PregelixJob.VERTEX_INDEX_CLASS, LongWritable.class, WritableComparable.class);
         job.getConfiguration().setClass(PregelixJob.VERTEX_VALUE_CLASS, DoubleWritable.class, Writable.class);
         job.getConfiguration().setClass(PregelixJob.EDGE_VALUE_CLASS, FloatWritable.class, Writable.class);
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobgen/JobGenerator.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobgen/JobGenerator.java
index c0b4a10..c353d84 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobgen/JobGenerator.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobgen/JobGenerator.java
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.ConnectedComponentsVertex;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.ConnectedComponentsVertex.SimpleConnectedComponentsVertexOutputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex;
-import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex.SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex.SimplePageRankVertexOutputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex.SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.ReachabilityVertex;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.ReachabilityVertex.SimpleReachibilityVertexOutputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.ShortestPathsVertex;
@@ -35,6 +35,14 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.inputformat.TextPageRankInputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.inputformat.TextReachibilityVertexInputFormat;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.inputformat.TextShortestPathsInputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.MaximalCliqueAggregator;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.MaximalCliqueVertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.MaximalCliqueVertex.MaximalCliqueVertexOutputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TextTriangleCountingInputFormat;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TriangleCountingAggregator;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TriangleCountingVertex;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TriangleCountingVertex.TriangleCountingVertexOutputFormat;
 
 public class JobGenerator {
     private static String outputBase = "src/test/resources/jobs/";
@@ -44,6 +52,9 @@
     private static String HDFS_INPUTPATH2 = "/webmapcomplex";
     private static String HDFS_OUTPUTPAH2 = "/resultcomplex";
 
+    private static String HDFS_INPUTPATH3 = "/clique";
+    private static String HDFS_OUTPUTPAH3 = "/resultclique";
+
     private static void generatePageRankJobReal(String jobName, String outputPath) throws IOException {
         PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(jobName);
         job.setVertexClass(PageRankVertex.class);
@@ -148,7 +159,7 @@
     private static void generatePageRankJob(String jobName, String outputPath) throws IOException {
         PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(jobName);
         job.setVertexClass(PageRankVertex.class);
-        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat.class);
         job.setMessageCombinerClass(PageRankVertex.SimpleSumCombiner.class);
         job.setVertexOutputFormatClass(SimplePageRankVertexOutputFormat.class);
         FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH);
@@ -157,17 +168,10 @@
         job.getConfiguration().writeXml(new FileOutputStream(new File(outputPath)));
     }
 
-    private static void genPageRank() throws IOException {
-        generatePageRankJob("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRank.xml");
-        generatePageRankJobReal("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRankReal.xml");
-        generatePageRankJobRealComplex("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRankRealComplex.xml");
-        generatePageRankJobRealNoCombiner("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRankRealNoCombiner.xml");
-    }
-
     private static void generateShortestPathJob(String jobName, String outputPath) throws IOException {
         PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(jobName);
         job.setVertexClass(ShortestPathsVertex.class);
-        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat.class);
         job.setMessageCombinerClass(ShortestPathsVertex.SimpleMinCombiner.class);
         job.setVertexOutputFormatClass(SimplePageRankVertexOutputFormat.class);
         FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH);
@@ -177,6 +181,50 @@
         job.getConfiguration().writeXml(new FileOutputStream(new File(outputPath)));
     }
 
+    private static void generatePageRankJobRealDynamic(String jobName, String outputPath) throws IOException {
+        PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(jobName);
+        job.setVertexClass(PageRankVertex.class);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(TextPageRankInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexOutputFormatClass(SimplePageRankVertexOutputFormat.class);
+        job.setMessageCombinerClass(PageRankVertex.SimpleSumCombiner.class);
+        job.setDynamicVertexValueSize(true);
+        FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH);
+        FileOutputFormat.setOutputPath(job, new Path(HDFS_OUTPUTPAH));
+        job.getConfiguration().setLong(PregelixJob.NUM_VERTICE, 20);
+        job.getConfiguration().writeXml(new FileOutputStream(new File(outputPath)));
+    }
+
+    private static void generateTriangleCountingJob(String jobName, String outputPath) throws IOException {
+        PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(jobName);
+        job.setVertexClass(TriangleCountingVertex.class);
+        job.setGlobalAggregatorClass(TriangleCountingAggregator.class);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(TextTriangleCountingInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexOutputFormatClass(TriangleCountingVertexOutputFormat.class);
+        FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH3);
+        FileOutputFormat.setOutputPath(job, new Path(HDFS_OUTPUTPAH3));
+        job.getConfiguration().writeXml(new FileOutputStream(new File(outputPath)));
+    }
+
+    private static void generateMaximalCliqueJob(String jobName, String outputPath) throws IOException {
+        PregelixJob job = new PregelixJob(jobName);
+        job.setVertexClass(MaximalCliqueVertex.class);
+        job.setGlobalAggregatorClass(MaximalCliqueAggregator.class);
+        job.setDynamicVertexValueSize(true);
+        job.setVertexInputFormatClass(TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat.class);
+        job.setVertexOutputFormatClass(MaximalCliqueVertexOutputFormat.class);
+        FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH3);
+        FileOutputFormat.setOutputPath(job, new Path(HDFS_OUTPUTPAH3));
+        job.getConfiguration().writeXml(new FileOutputStream(new File(outputPath)));
+    }
+
+    private static void genPageRank() throws IOException {
+        generatePageRankJob("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRank.xml");
+        generatePageRankJobReal("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRankReal.xml");
+        generatePageRankJobRealDynamic("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRankRealDynamic.xml");
+        generatePageRankJobRealComplex("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRankRealComplex.xml");
+        generatePageRankJobRealNoCombiner("PageRank", outputBase + "PageRankRealNoCombiner.xml");
+    }
+
     private static void genShortestPath() throws IOException {
         generateShortestPathJob("ShortestPaths", outputBase + "ShortestPaths.xml");
         generateShortestPathJobReal("ShortestPaths", outputBase + "ShortestPathsReal.xml");
@@ -194,11 +242,20 @@
                 + "ReachibilityRealComplexNoConnectivity.xml");
     }
 
+    private static void genTriangleCounting() throws IOException {
+        generateTriangleCountingJob("Triangle Counting", outputBase + "TriangleCounting.xml");
+    }
+
+    private static void genMaximalClique() throws IOException {
+        generateMaximalCliqueJob("Maximal Clique", outputBase + "MaximalClique.xml");
+    }
+
     public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
         genPageRank();
         genShortestPath();
         genConnectedComponents();
         genReachibility();
+        genTriangleCounting();
+        genMaximalClique();
     }
-
 }
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestCase.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestCase.java
index 89bce34..7a5bba6 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestCase.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestCase.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.jobgen.JobGen;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.jobgen.JobGenInnerJoin;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.jobgen.JobGenOuterJoin;
+import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.jobgen.JobGenOuterJoinSingleSort;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.jobgen.JobGenOuterJoinSort;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.core.util.PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil;
 import edu.uci.ics.pregelix.dataflow.util.IterationUtils;
@@ -44,6 +45,9 @@
     private static String HDFS_INPUTPATH2 = "/webmapcomplex";
     private static String HDFS_OUTPUTPAH2 = "/resultcomplex";
 
+    private static String HDFS_INPUTPATH3 = "/clique";
+    private static String HDFS_OUTPUTPAH3 = "/resultclique";
+
     private final PregelixJob job;
     private JobGen[] giraphJobGens;
     private final String resultFileName;
@@ -61,21 +65,24 @@
         if (inputPaths[0].toString().endsWith(HDFS_INPUTPATH)) {
             FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH);
             FileOutputFormat.setOutputPath(job, new Path(HDFS_OUTPUTPAH));
-        } else {
+        } else if (inputPaths[0].toString().endsWith(HDFS_INPUTPATH2)) {
             FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH2);
             FileOutputFormat.setOutputPath(job, new Path(HDFS_OUTPUTPAH2));
+        } else {
+            FileInputFormat.setInputPaths(job, HDFS_INPUTPATH3);
+            FileOutputFormat.setOutputPath(job, new Path(HDFS_OUTPUTPAH3));
         }
         job.setJobName(jobName);
         this.resultFileName = resultFile;
         this.expectedFileName = expectedFile;
-        giraphJobGens = new JobGen[3];
+        giraphJobGens = new JobGen[4];
         giraphJobGens[0] = new JobGenOuterJoin(job);
         waitawhile();
         giraphJobGens[1] = new JobGenInnerJoin(job);
         waitawhile();
         giraphJobGens[2] = new JobGenOuterJoinSort(job);
-        //waitawhile();
-        // giraphJobGens[3] = new JobGenOuterJoinSingleSort(job);
+        waitawhile();
+        giraphJobGens[3] = new JobGenOuterJoinSingleSort(job);
     }
 
     private void waitawhile() throws InterruptedException {
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestSuite.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestSuite.java
index 8a5c34b..b5abd94 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestSuite.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/jobrun/RunJobTestSuite.java
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@
     private static final String DATA_PATH2 = "data/webmapcomplex/webmap_link.txt";
     private static final String HDFS_PATH2 = "/webmapcomplex/";
 
+    private static final String DATA_PATH3 = "data/clique/clique.txt";
+    private static final String HDFS_PATH3 = "/clique/";
+
     private static final String HYRACKS_APP_NAME = "giraph";
     private static final String HADOOP_CONF_PATH = ACTUAL_RESULT_DIR + File.separator + "conf.xml";
     private MiniDFSCluster dfsCluster;
@@ -104,6 +107,11 @@
         dfs.mkdirs(dest);
         dfs.copyFromLocalFile(src, dest);
 
+        src = new Path(DATA_PATH3);
+        dest = new Path(HDFS_PATH3);
+        dfs.mkdirs(dest);
+        dfs.copyFromLocalFile(src, dest);
+
         DataOutputStream confOutput = new DataOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(new File(HADOOP_CONF_PATH)));
         conf.writeXml(confOutput);
         confOutput.flush();
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/util/TestUtils.java b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/util/TestUtils.java
index 1b22b47..d89ec46 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/util/TestUtils.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/example/util/TestUtils.java
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@
             if (row1.equals(row2))
                 continue;
 
-            String[] fields1 = row1.split(",");
-            String[] fields2 = row2.split(",");
+            String[] fields1 = row1.split(" ");
+            String[] fields2 = row2.split(" ");
 
             for (int j = 0; j < fields1.length; j++) {
                 if (fields1[j].equals(fields2[j])) {
@@ -71,8 +71,6 @@
                 } else if (fields1[j].indexOf('.') < 0) {
                     return false;
                 } else {
-                    fields1[j] = fields1[j].split("=")[1];
-                    fields2[j] = fields2[j].split("=")[1];
                     Double double1 = Double.parseDouble(fields1[j]);
                     Double double2 = Double.parseDouble(fields2[j]);
                     float float1 = (float) double1.doubleValue();
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsReal.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsReal.result
index b8efedc..45376e2 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsReal.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsReal.result
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
-0|Vertex(id=0,value=0, edges=(1,))
-1|Vertex(id=1,value=0, edges=(1,2,))
-2|Vertex(id=2,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,))
-3|Vertex(id=3,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,))
-4|Vertex(id=4,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,))
-5|Vertex(id=5,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,))
-6|Vertex(id=6,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,))
-7|Vertex(id=7,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,))
-8|Vertex(id=8,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,))
-9|Vertex(id=9,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,))
-10|Vertex(id=10,value=0, edges=(11,))
-11|Vertex(id=11,value=0, edges=(11,12,))
-12|Vertex(id=12,value=0, edges=(11,12,13,))
-13|Vertex(id=13,value=0, edges=(11,12,13,14,))
-14|Vertex(id=14,value=0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,))
-15|Vertex(id=15,value=0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,))
-16|Vertex(id=16,value=0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,))
-17|Vertex(id=17,value=0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,))
-18|Vertex(id=18,value=0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,))
-19|Vertex(id=19,value=0, edges=(0,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,))
+0 0
+1 0
+2 0
+3 0
+4 0
+5 0
+6 0
+7 0
+8 0
+9 0
+10 0
+11 0
+12 0
+13 0
+14 0
+15 0
+16 0
+17 0
+18 0
+19 0
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsRealComplex.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsRealComplex.result
index ad448b2..dbc30fc 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsRealComplex.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ConnectedComponentsRealComplex.result
@@ -1,23 +1,23 @@
-0|Vertex(id=0,value=0, edges=(1,50,))
-1|Vertex(id=1,value=0, edges=(1,2,))
-2|Vertex(id=2,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,))
-3|Vertex(id=3,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,))
-4|Vertex(id=4,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,))
-5|Vertex(id=5,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,))
-6|Vertex(id=6,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,))
-7|Vertex(id=7,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,))
-8|Vertex(id=8,value=0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,))
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/MaximalClique.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/MaximalClique.result
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d238037
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/MaximalClique.result
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+1 1,2,3,4;
+2 2,3,4;
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRank.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRank.result
index f38e191..9c4d83a 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRank.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRank.result
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankReal.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankReal.result
index ab05d38..6432eda 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankReal.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankReal.result
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealComplex.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealComplex.result
index 1fc108a..2bd09e1 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealComplex.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealComplex.result
@@ -1,23 +1,23 @@
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealDynamic.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealDynamic.result
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6432eda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealDynamic.result
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealNoCombiner.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealNoCombiner.result
index ab05d38..9a747a6 100755
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealNoCombiner.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/PageRankRealNoCombiner.result
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplex.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplex.result
index 74113a8..a1dfc0f 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplex.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplex.result
@@ -1,23 +1,23 @@
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplexNoConnectivity.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplexNoConnectivity.result
index ea0edc2..1693fb2 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplexNoConnectivity.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ReachibilityRealComplexNoConnectivity.result
@@ -1,23 +1,23 @@
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diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPaths.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPaths.result
index 7bb0ca3..46d1c73 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPaths.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPaths.result
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
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-4|Vertex(id=4,value=600.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,))
-5|Vertex(id=5,value=1000.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,))
-6|Vertex(id=6,value=1500.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,))
-7|Vertex(id=7,value=2100.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,))
-8|Vertex(id=8,value=2800.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,))
-9|Vertex(id=9,value=3600.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,))
-10|Vertex(id=10,value=4500.0, edges=(11,))
-11|Vertex(id=11,value=5500.0, edges=(11,12,))
-12|Vertex(id=12,value=6600.0, edges=(11,12,13,))
-13|Vertex(id=13,value=7800.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,))
-14|Vertex(id=14,value=9100.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,))
-15|Vertex(id=15,value=10500.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,))
-16|Vertex(id=16,value=12000.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,))
-17|Vertex(id=17,value=13600.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,))
-18|Vertex(id=18,value=15300.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,))
-19|Vertex(id=19,value=17100.0, edges=(0,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,))
+0 0.0
+1 0.0
+2 100.0
+3 300.0
+4 600.0
+5 1000.0
+6 1500.0
+7 2100.0
+8 2800.0
+9 3600.0
+10 4500.0
+11 5500.0
+12 6600.0
+13 7800.0
+14 9100.0
+15 10500.0
+16 12000.0
+17 13600.0
+18 15300.0
+19 17100.0
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPathsReal.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPathsReal.result
index f2c31a6..b42462f 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPathsReal.result
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/ShortestPathsReal.result
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
-0|Vertex(id=0,value=0.0, edges=(1,))
-1|Vertex(id=1,value=1.0, edges=(1,2,))
-2|Vertex(id=2,value=2.0, edges=(1,2,3,))
-3|Vertex(id=3,value=3.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,))
-4|Vertex(id=4,value=4.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,))
-5|Vertex(id=5,value=5.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,))
-6|Vertex(id=6,value=6.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,))
-7|Vertex(id=7,value=7.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,))
-8|Vertex(id=8,value=8.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,))
-9|Vertex(id=9,value=9.0, edges=(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,))
-10|Vertex(id=10,value=10.0, edges=(11,))
-11|Vertex(id=11,value=11.0, edges=(11,12,))
-12|Vertex(id=12,value=12.0, edges=(11,12,13,))
-13|Vertex(id=13,value=13.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,))
-14|Vertex(id=14,value=14.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,))
-15|Vertex(id=15,value=15.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,))
-16|Vertex(id=16,value=16.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,))
-17|Vertex(id=17,value=17.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,))
-18|Vertex(id=18,value=18.0, edges=(11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,))
-19|Vertex(id=19,value=19.0, edges=(0,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,))
+0 0.0
+1 1.0
+2 2.0
+3 3.0
+4 4.0
+5 5.0
+6 6.0
+7 7.0
+8 8.0
+9 9.0
+10 10.0
+11 11.0
+12 12.0
+13 13.0
+14 14.0
+15 15.0
+16 16.0
+17 17.0
+18 18.0
+19 19.0
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/TriangleCounting.result b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/TriangleCounting.result
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4818e13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/expected/TriangleCounting.result
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+1 3
+2 2
+3 0
+4 0
+5 1
+6 0
+7 0
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml
index 1b9a4d6..71450f1 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/hadoop/conf/mapred-site.xml
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
       <value>20</value>
    </property>
    <property>
-      <name>mapred.min.split.size</name>
-      <value>65536</value>
+      <name>mapred.max.split.size</name>
+      <value>128</value>
    </property>
 
 </configuration>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/MaximalClique.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/MaximalClique.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..616c647
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/MaximalClique.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?><configuration>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.dns.nameserver</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.default.acl-administer-jobs</name><value>*</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.map.auto.incr.proc.count</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.instrumentation</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobTrackerMetricsInst</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.reduce.auto.incr.proc.count</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hsftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HsftpFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.input.dir</name><value>file:/clique</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.submit.replication</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.server.tcpnodelay</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/dfs/namesecondary</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compression.type</name><value>RECORD</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.shuffle.merge.percent</name><value>0.66</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.child.java.opts</name><value>-Xmx200m</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.default.acl-submit-job</name><value>*</value></property>
+<property><name>keep.failed.task.files</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.job.history.block.size</name><value>3145728</value></property>
+<property><name>io.bytes.per.checksum</name><value>512</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.tracker.report.address</name><value>127.0.0.1:0</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.util.hash.type</name><value>murmur</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hdfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DistributedFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.ramfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.InMemoryFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.restart.recover</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HftpFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.period</name><value>3600</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.child.tmp</name><value>./tmp</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir.minspacekill</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>map.sort.class</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.util.QuickSort</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.logfile.count</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.connection.maxidletime</name><value>10000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.dir</name><value>/resultclique</value></property>
+<property><name>io.map.index.skip</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.expiry.interval</name><value>600000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compress</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.lazydecompress</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.parallel.copies</name><value>5</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.size</name><value>67108864</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.reduce.input.buffer.percent</name><value>0.0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.name</name><value>Maximal Clique</value></property>
+<property><name>local.cache.size</name><value>10737418240</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3n.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.s3native.NativeS3FileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.userlog.limit.kb</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.file.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.LocalFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.tracker.http.address</name><value>0.0.0.0:50060</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.timeout</name><value>600000</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.kfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.kfs.KosmosFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.max.tracker.blacklists</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.buffer.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/s3</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.dir</name><value>/jobtracker/jobsInfo</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.kill.max</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.instrumentation</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskTrackerMetricsInst</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.record.percent</name><value>0.05</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.security.authorization</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.max.tracker.failures</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.taskScheduler</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobQueueTaskScheduler</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.dns.interface</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.tasks</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.hours</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.sleepTimeSeconds</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.default.name</name><value>file:///</value></property>
+<property><name>tasktracker.http.threads</name><value>40</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.taskmemorymanager.monitoring-interval</name><value>5000</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.rpc.socket.factory.class.default</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.net.StandardSocketFactory</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.tasks</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>topology.node.switch.mapping.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.net.ScriptBasedMapping</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.MaximalCliqueVertex</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.reduce.max.skip.groups</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>io.file.buffer.size</name><value>4096</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.maxtasks.per.job</name><value>-1</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.indexcache.mb</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.map.tasks.maximum</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.har.impl.disable.cache</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile.maps</name><value>0-2</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.native.lib</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.block.size</name><value>67108864</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.reuse.jvm.num.tasks</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.http.address</name><value>0.0.0.0:50030</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.reduce.tasks.maximum</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>io.compression.codecs</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec,org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.GzipCodec,org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.BZip2Codec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.shuffle.input.buffer.percent</name><value>0.70</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.compress.blocksize</name><value>1000000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.names</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.har.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.HarFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>io.mapfile.bloom.error.rate</name><value>0.005</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker</name><value>local</value></property>
+<property><name>io.skip.checksum.errors</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.max.attempts</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.maxRetries</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.server.listen.queue.size</name><value>128</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.trash.interval</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir.minspacestart</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.s3.S3FileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.sorter.recordlimit</name><value>1000000</value></property>
+<property><name>io.mapfile.bloom.size</name><value>1048576</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.mb</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/local</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.factor</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>job.end.retry.interval</name><value>30000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.procfsbasedprocesstree.sleeptime-before-sigkill</name><value>5000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.completeuserjobs.maximum</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile.reduces</name><value>0-2</value></property>
+<property><name>webinterface.private.actions</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.tmp.dir</name><value>/tmp/hadoop-${user.name}</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compression.codec</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.attempts.to.start.skipping</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.temp.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/temp</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.merge.recordsBeforeProgress</name><value>10000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.output.compression.codec</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.compress.map.output</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.spill.percent</name><value>0.80</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.edits.dir</name><value>${fs.checkpoint.dir}</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.userlog.retain.hours</name><value>24</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.system.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/system</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.line.input.format.linespermap</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>job.end.retry.attempts</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.idlethreshold</name><value>4000</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexOutputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.MaximalCliqueVertex$MaximalCliqueVertexOutputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.copy.backoff</name><value>300</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.inmem.merge.threshold</name><value>1000</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.logfile.size</name><value>10000000</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexInputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.TextMaximalCliqueInputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.aggregatorClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.maximalclique.MaximalCliqueAggregator</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.queue.name</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.active</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.incStateLength</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.slowstart.completed.maps</name><value>0.05</value></property>
+<property><name>topology.script.number.args</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.map.max.skip.records</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.ftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.ftp.FTPFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.cache.levels</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.handler.count</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>io.serializations</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.serializer.WritableSerialization</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.connect.max.retries</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.min.split.size</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.max.attempts</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>jobclient.output.filter</name><value>FAILED</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.tcpnodelay</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.acls.enabled</name><value>false</value></property>
+</configuration>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/PageRank.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/PageRank.xml
index e425b38..744e5b0 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/PageRank.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/PageRank.xml
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
 <property><name>mapred.map.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.inmem.merge.threshold</name><value>1000</value></property>
 <property><name>hadoop.logfile.size</name><value>10000000</value></property>
-<property><name>pregelix.vertexInputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex$SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexInputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex$SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.job.queue.name</name><value>default</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.active</name><value>false</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.reduce.slowstart.completed.maps</name><value>0.05</value></property>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/PageRankRealDynamic.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/PageRankRealDynamic.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1a04ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/PageRankRealDynamic.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?><configuration>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.dns.nameserver</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.default.acl-administer-jobs</name><value>*</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.map.auto.incr.proc.count</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.instrumentation</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobTrackerMetricsInst</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.reduce.auto.incr.proc.count</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hsftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HsftpFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.input.dir</name><value>file:/webmap</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.submit.replication</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.server.tcpnodelay</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/dfs/namesecondary</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compression.type</name><value>RECORD</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.shuffle.merge.percent</name><value>0.66</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.child.java.opts</name><value>-Xmx200m</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.default.acl-submit-job</name><value>*</value></property>
+<property><name>keep.failed.task.files</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.job.history.block.size</name><value>3145728</value></property>
+<property><name>io.bytes.per.checksum</name><value>512</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.tracker.report.address</name><value>127.0.0.1:0</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.util.hash.type</name><value>murmur</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hdfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DistributedFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.ramfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.InMemoryFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.restart.recover</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HftpFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.period</name><value>3600</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.child.tmp</name><value>./tmp</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir.minspacekill</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>map.sort.class</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.util.QuickSort</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.logfile.count</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.connection.maxidletime</name><value>10000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.dir</name><value>/result</value></property>
+<property><name>io.map.index.skip</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.expiry.interval</name><value>600000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compress</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.lazydecompress</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.parallel.copies</name><value>5</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.size</name><value>67108864</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.reduce.input.buffer.percent</name><value>0.0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.name</name><value>PageRank</value></property>
+<property><name>local.cache.size</name><value>10737418240</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3n.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.s3native.NativeS3FileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.userlog.limit.kb</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.file.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.LocalFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.tracker.http.address</name><value>0.0.0.0:50060</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.timeout</name><value>600000</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.kfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.kfs.KosmosFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.max.tracker.blacklists</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.buffer.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/s3</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.dir</name><value>/jobtracker/jobsInfo</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.kill.max</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.instrumentation</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskTrackerMetricsInst</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.record.percent</name><value>0.05</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.security.authorization</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.max.tracker.failures</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.taskScheduler</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobQueueTaskScheduler</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.numVertices</name><value>20</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.dns.interface</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.tasks</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.hours</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.sleepTimeSeconds</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.default.name</name><value>file:///</value></property>
+<property><name>tasktracker.http.threads</name><value>40</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.taskmemorymanager.monitoring-interval</name><value>5000</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.rpc.socket.factory.class.default</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.net.StandardSocketFactory</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.tasks</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>topology.node.switch.mapping.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.net.ScriptBasedMapping</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.reduce.max.skip.groups</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>io.file.buffer.size</name><value>4096</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.maxtasks.per.job</name><value>-1</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.indexcache.mb</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.map.tasks.maximum</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.har.impl.disable.cache</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile.maps</name><value>0-2</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.native.lib</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.block.size</name><value>67108864</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.reuse.jvm.num.tasks</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.http.address</name><value>0.0.0.0:50030</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.reduce.tasks.maximum</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>io.compression.codecs</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec,org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.GzipCodec,org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.BZip2Codec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.shuffle.input.buffer.percent</name><value>0.70</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.compress.blocksize</name><value>1000000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.names</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.har.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.HarFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>io.mapfile.bloom.error.rate</name><value>0.005</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker</name><value>local</value></property>
+<property><name>io.skip.checksum.errors</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.max.attempts</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.maxRetries</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.server.listen.queue.size</name><value>128</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.trash.interval</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir.minspacestart</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.s3.S3FileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.sorter.recordlimit</name><value>1000000</value></property>
+<property><name>io.mapfile.bloom.size</name><value>1048576</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.mb</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/local</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.factor</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>job.end.retry.interval</name><value>30000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.procfsbasedprocesstree.sleeptime-before-sigkill</name><value>5000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.completeuserjobs.maximum</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile.reduces</name><value>0-2</value></property>
+<property><name>webinterface.private.actions</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.tmp.dir</name><value>/tmp/hadoop-${user.name}</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.combinerClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex$SimpleSumCombiner</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compression.codec</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.attempts.to.start.skipping</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.temp.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/temp</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.merge.recordsBeforeProgress</name><value>10000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.output.compression.codec</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.compress.map.output</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.spill.percent</name><value>0.80</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.edits.dir</name><value>${fs.checkpoint.dir}</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.userlog.retain.hours</name><value>24</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.system.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/system</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.line.input.format.linespermap</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>job.end.retry.attempts</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.idlethreshold</name><value>4000</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexOutputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex$SimplePageRankVertexOutputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.copy.backoff</name><value>300</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.inmem.merge.threshold</name><value>1000</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.logfile.size</name><value>10000000</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexInputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.inputformat.TextPageRankInputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.queue.name</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.active</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.incStateLength</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.slowstart.completed.maps</name><value>0.05</value></property>
+<property><name>topology.script.number.args</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.map.max.skip.records</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.ftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.ftp.FTPFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.cache.levels</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.handler.count</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>io.serializations</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.serializer.WritableSerialization</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.connect.max.retries</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.min.split.size</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.max.attempts</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>jobclient.output.filter</name><value>FAILED</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.tcpnodelay</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.acls.enabled</name><value>false</value></property>
+</configuration>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/ShortestPaths.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/ShortestPaths.xml
index 3719247..9e791e2 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/ShortestPaths.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/ShortestPaths.xml
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
 <property><name>mapred.map.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.inmem.merge.threshold</name><value>1000</value></property>
 <property><name>hadoop.logfile.size</name><value>10000000</value></property>
-<property><name>pregelix.vertexInputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex$SimplePageRankVertexInputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexInputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.PageRankVertex$SimulatedPageRankVertexInputFormat</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.job.queue.name</name><value>default</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.active</name><value>false</value></property>
 <property><name>mapred.reduce.slowstart.completed.maps</name><value>0.05</value></property>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/TriangleCounting.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/TriangleCounting.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee2acc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-example/src/test/resources/jobs/TriangleCounting.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?><configuration>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.dns.nameserver</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.default.acl-administer-jobs</name><value>*</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.map.auto.incr.proc.count</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.instrumentation</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobTrackerMetricsInst</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.reduce.auto.incr.proc.count</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hsftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HsftpFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.input.dir</name><value>file:/clique</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.submit.replication</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.server.tcpnodelay</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/dfs/namesecondary</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compression.type</name><value>RECORD</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.shuffle.merge.percent</name><value>0.66</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.child.java.opts</name><value>-Xmx200m</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.default.acl-submit-job</name><value>*</value></property>
+<property><name>keep.failed.task.files</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.job.history.block.size</name><value>3145728</value></property>
+<property><name>io.bytes.per.checksum</name><value>512</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.tracker.report.address</name><value>127.0.0.1:0</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.util.hash.type</name><value>murmur</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hdfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DistributedFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.ramfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.InMemoryFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.restart.recover</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.hftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.HftpFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.period</name><value>3600</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.child.tmp</name><value>./tmp</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir.minspacekill</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>map.sort.class</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.util.QuickSort</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.logfile.count</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.connection.maxidletime</name><value>10000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.dir</name><value>/resultclique</value></property>
+<property><name>io.map.index.skip</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.expiry.interval</name><value>600000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compress</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.lazydecompress</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.parallel.copies</name><value>5</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.size</name><value>67108864</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.reduce.input.buffer.percent</name><value>0.0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.name</name><value>Triangle Counting</value></property>
+<property><name>local.cache.size</name><value>10737418240</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3n.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.s3native.NativeS3FileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.userlog.limit.kb</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.file.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.LocalFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.tracker.http.address</name><value>0.0.0.0:50060</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.timeout</name><value>600000</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.kfs.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.kfs.KosmosFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.max.tracker.blacklists</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.buffer.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/s3</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.dir</name><value>/jobtracker/jobsInfo</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.kill.max</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.instrumentation</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskTrackerMetricsInst</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.record.percent</name><value>0.05</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.security.authorization</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.max.tracker.failures</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.taskScheduler</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.mapred.JobQueueTaskScheduler</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.dns.interface</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.tasks</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.hours</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.sleepTimeSeconds</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.default.name</name><value>file:///</value></property>
+<property><name>tasktracker.http.threads</name><value>40</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.taskmemorymanager.monitoring-interval</name><value>5000</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.rpc.socket.factory.class.default</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.net.StandardSocketFactory</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.tasks</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>topology.node.switch.mapping.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.net.ScriptBasedMapping</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TriangleCountingVertex</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.reduce.max.skip.groups</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>io.file.buffer.size</name><value>4096</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.maxtasks.per.job</name><value>-1</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.indexcache.mb</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.map.tasks.maximum</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.har.impl.disable.cache</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile.maps</name><value>0-2</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.native.lib</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.block.size</name><value>67108864</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.reuse.jvm.num.tasks</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.http.address</name><value>0.0.0.0:50030</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.reduce.tasks.maximum</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>io.compression.codecs</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec,org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.GzipCodec,org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.BZip2Codec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.shuffle.input.buffer.percent</name><value>0.70</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.compress.blocksize</name><value>1000000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.queue.names</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.har.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.HarFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>io.mapfile.bloom.error.rate</name><value>0.005</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker</name><value>local</value></property>
+<property><name>io.skip.checksum.errors</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.max.attempts</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.maxRetries</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.server.listen.queue.size</name><value>128</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.trash.interval</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir.minspacestart</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.s3.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.s3.S3FileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>io.seqfile.sorter.recordlimit</name><value>1000000</value></property>
+<property><name>io.mapfile.bloom.size</name><value>1048576</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.mb</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.local.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/local</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.factor</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>job.end.retry.interval</name><value>30000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.tasktracker.procfsbasedprocesstree.sleeptime-before-sigkill</name><value>5000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.jobtracker.completeuserjobs.maximum</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.profile.reduces</name><value>0-2</value></property>
+<property><name>webinterface.private.actions</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.tmp.dir</name><value>/tmp/hadoop-${user.name}</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.output.compression.codec</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.attempts.to.start.skipping</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.temp.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/temp</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.merge.recordsBeforeProgress</name><value>10000</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.output.compression.codec</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.compress.map.output</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>io.sort.spill.percent</name><value>0.80</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.checkpoint.edits.dir</name><value>${fs.checkpoint.dir}</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.userlog.retain.hours</name><value>24</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.system.dir</name><value>${hadoop.tmp.dir}/mapred/system</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.line.input.format.linespermap</name><value>1</value></property>
+<property><name>job.end.retry.attempts</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.idlethreshold</name><value>4000</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexOutputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TriangleCountingVertex$TriangleCountingVertexOutputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.copy.backoff</name><value>300</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.tasks.speculative.execution</name><value>true</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.inmem.merge.threshold</name><value>1000</value></property>
+<property><name>hadoop.logfile.size</name><value>10000000</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.vertexInputFormatClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.inputformat.TextPageRankInputFormat</value></property>
+<property><name>pregelix.aggregatorClass</name><value>edu.uci.ics.pregelix.example.trianglecounting.TriangleCountingAggregator</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.queue.name</name><value>default</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.persist.jobstatus.active</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.reduce.slowstart.completed.maps</name><value>0.05</value></property>
+<property><name>topology.script.number.args</name><value>100</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.skip.map.max.skip.records</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>fs.ftp.impl</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.fs.ftp.FTPFileSystem</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.task.cache.levels</name><value>2</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.job.tracker.handler.count</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>io.serializations</name><value>org.apache.hadoop.io.serializer.WritableSerialization</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.connect.max.retries</name><value>10</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.min.split.size</name><value>0</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.map.max.attempts</name><value>4</value></property>
+<property><name>jobclient.output.filter</name><value>FAILED</value></property>
+<property><name>ipc.client.tcpnodelay</name><value>false</value></property>
+<property><name>mapred.acls.enabled</name><value>false</value></property>
+</configuration>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/pom.xml b/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/pom.xml
index d12cb36..1c414ff 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/pom.xml
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/pom.xml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.5</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<filesets>
 						<fileset>
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java b/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java
index 105d3e2..1b8fce4 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/ComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
 
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameWriter;
@@ -58,6 +59,8 @@
             private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbAlive = new ArrayTupleBuilder(2);
             private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbTerminate = new ArrayTupleBuilder(1);
             private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbGlobalAggregate = new ArrayTupleBuilder(1);
+            private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbInsert = new ArrayTupleBuilder(2);
+            private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbDelete = new ArrayTupleBuilder(1);
 
             // for writing out to message channel
             private IFrameWriter writerMsg;
@@ -82,6 +85,16 @@
             private ByteBuffer bufferGlobalAggregate;
             private GlobalAggregator aggregator;
 
+            // for writing out to insert vertex channel
+            private IFrameWriter writerInsert;
+            private FrameTupleAppender appenderInsert;
+            private ByteBuffer bufferInsert;
+
+            // for writing out to delete vertex channel
+            private IFrameWriter writerDelete;
+            private FrameTupleAppender appenderDelete;
+            private ByteBuffer bufferDelete;
+
             private Vertex vertex;
             private ResetableByteArrayOutputStream bbos = new ResetableByteArrayOutputStream();
             private DataOutput output = new DataOutputStream(bbos);
@@ -90,11 +103,13 @@
             private final List<IFrameWriter> writers = new ArrayList<IFrameWriter>();
             private final List<FrameTupleAppender> appenders = new ArrayList<FrameTupleAppender>();
             private final List<ArrayTupleBuilder> tbs = new ArrayList<ArrayTupleBuilder>();
+            private Configuration conf;
 
             @Override
             public void open(IHyracksTaskContext ctx, RecordDescriptor rd, IFrameWriter... writers)
                     throws HyracksDataException {
-                this.aggregator = BspUtils.createGlobalAggregator(confFactory.createConfiguration());
+                this.conf = confFactory.createConfiguration();
+                this.aggregator = BspUtils.createGlobalAggregator(conf);
                 this.aggregator.init();
 
                 this.writerMsg = writers[0];
@@ -114,8 +129,22 @@
                 this.appenderGlobalAggregate = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
                 this.appenderGlobalAggregate.reset(bufferGlobalAggregate, true);
 
-                if (writers.length > 3) {
-                    this.writerAlive = writers[3];
+                this.writerInsert = writers[3];
+                this.bufferInsert = ctx.allocateFrame();
+                this.appenderInsert = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
+                this.appenderInsert.reset(bufferInsert, true);
+                this.writers.add(writerInsert);
+                this.appenders.add(appenderInsert);
+
+                this.writerDelete = writers[4];
+                this.bufferDelete = ctx.allocateFrame();
+                this.appenderDelete = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
+                this.appenderDelete.reset(bufferDelete, true);
+                this.writers.add(writerDelete);
+                this.appenders.add(appenderDelete);
+
+                if (writers.length > 5) {
+                    this.writerAlive = writers[5];
                     this.bufferAlive = ctx.allocateFrame();
                     this.appenderAlive = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
                     this.appenderAlive.reset(bufferAlive, true);
@@ -125,6 +154,8 @@
                 }
 
                 tbs.add(tbMsg);
+                tbs.add(tbInsert);
+                tbs.add(tbDelete);
                 tbs.add(tbAlive);
             }
 
@@ -164,6 +195,9 @@
             @Override
             public void close() throws HyracksDataException {
                 FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderMsg, writerMsg);
+                FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderInsert, writerInsert);
+                FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderDelete, writerDelete);
+
                 if (pushAlive)
                     FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderAlive, writerAlive);
                 if (!terminate) {
@@ -177,7 +211,8 @@
             private void writeOutGlobalAggregate() throws HyracksDataException {
                 try {
                     /**
-                     * get partial aggregate result and flush to the final aggregator
+                     * get partial aggregate result and flush to the final
+                     * aggregator
                      */
                     Writable agg = aggregator.finishPartial();
                     agg.write(tbGlobalAggregate.getDataOutput());
@@ -203,15 +238,27 @@
             }
 
             @Override
-            public void update(ITupleReference tupleRef) throws HyracksDataException {
+            public void update(ITupleReference tupleRef, ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb) throws HyracksDataException {
                 try {
                     if (vertex != null && vertex.hasUpdate()) {
-                        int fieldCount = tupleRef.getFieldCount();
-                        for (int i = 1; i < fieldCount; i++) {
-                            byte[] data = tupleRef.getFieldData(i);
-                            int offset = tupleRef.getFieldStart(i);
-                            bbos.setByteArray(data, offset);
-                            vertex.write(output);
+                        if (!BspUtils.getDynamicVertexValueSize(conf)) {
+                            //in-place update
+                            int fieldCount = tupleRef.getFieldCount();
+                            for (int i = 1; i < fieldCount; i++) {
+                                byte[] data = tupleRef.getFieldData(i);
+                                int offset = tupleRef.getFieldStart(i);
+                                bbos.setByteArray(data, offset);
+                                vertex.write(output);
+                            }
+                        } else {
+                            //write the vertex id
+                            DataOutput tbOutput = cloneUpdateTb.getDataOutput();
+                            vertex.getVertexId().write(tbOutput);
+                            cloneUpdateTb.addFieldEndOffset();
+
+                            //write the vertex value
+                            vertex.write(tbOutput);
+                            cloneUpdateTb.addFieldEndOffset();
                         }
                     }
                 } catch (IOException e) {
diff --git a/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java b/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java
index f72b059..a4d54c8 100644
--- a/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java
+++ b/pregelix/pregelix-runtime/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/pregelix/runtime/function/StartComputeUpdateFunctionFactory.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
 
 import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.comm.IFrameWriter;
@@ -58,6 +59,8 @@
             private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbAlive = new ArrayTupleBuilder(2);
             private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbTerminate = new ArrayTupleBuilder(1);
             private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbGlobalAggregate = new ArrayTupleBuilder(1);
+            private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbInsert = new ArrayTupleBuilder(2);
+            private final ArrayTupleBuilder tbDelete = new ArrayTupleBuilder(1);
 
             // for writing out to message channel
             private IFrameWriter writerMsg;
@@ -82,6 +85,16 @@
             private ByteBuffer bufferTerminate;
             private boolean terminate = true;
 
+            // for writing out to insert vertex channel
+            private IFrameWriter writerInsert;
+            private FrameTupleAppender appenderInsert;
+            private ByteBuffer bufferInsert;
+
+            // for writing out to delete vertex channel
+            private IFrameWriter writerDelete;
+            private FrameTupleAppender appenderDelete;
+            private ByteBuffer bufferDelete;
+
             // dummy empty msgList
             private MsgList msgList = new MsgList();
             private ArrayIterator msgIterator = new ArrayIterator();
@@ -93,11 +106,13 @@
             private final List<IFrameWriter> writers = new ArrayList<IFrameWriter>();
             private final List<FrameTupleAppender> appenders = new ArrayList<FrameTupleAppender>();
             private final List<ArrayTupleBuilder> tbs = new ArrayList<ArrayTupleBuilder>();
+            private Configuration conf;
 
             @Override
             public void open(IHyracksTaskContext ctx, RecordDescriptor rd, IFrameWriter... writers)
                     throws HyracksDataException {
-                this.aggregator = BspUtils.createGlobalAggregator(confFactory.createConfiguration());
+                this.conf = confFactory.createConfiguration();
+                this.aggregator = BspUtils.createGlobalAggregator(conf);
                 this.aggregator.init();
 
                 this.writerMsg = writers[0];
@@ -117,8 +132,22 @@
                 this.appenderGlobalAggregate = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
                 this.appenderGlobalAggregate.reset(bufferGlobalAggregate, true);
 
-                if (writers.length > 3) {
-                    this.writerAlive = writers[3];
+                this.writerInsert = writers[3];
+                this.bufferInsert = ctx.allocateFrame();
+                this.appenderInsert = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
+                this.appenderInsert.reset(bufferInsert, true);
+                this.writers.add(writerInsert);
+                this.appenders.add(appenderInsert);
+
+                this.writerDelete = writers[4];
+                this.bufferDelete = ctx.allocateFrame();
+                this.appenderDelete = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
+                this.appenderDelete.reset(bufferDelete, true);
+                this.writers.add(writerDelete);
+                this.appenders.add(appenderDelete);
+
+                if (writers.length > 5) {
+                    this.writerAlive = writers[5];
                     this.bufferAlive = ctx.allocateFrame();
                     this.appenderAlive = new FrameTupleAppender(ctx.getFrameSize());
                     this.appenderAlive.reset(bufferAlive, true);
@@ -129,6 +158,8 @@
                 msgList.reset(msgIterator);
 
                 tbs.add(tbMsg);
+                tbs.add(tbInsert);
+                tbs.add(tbDelete);
                 tbs.add(tbAlive);
             }
 
@@ -168,13 +199,16 @@
             @Override
             public void close() throws HyracksDataException {
                 FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderMsg, writerMsg);
+                FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderInsert, writerInsert);
+                FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderDelete, writerDelete);
+
                 if (pushAlive)
                     FrameTupleUtils.flushTuplesFinal(appenderAlive, writerAlive);
                 if (!terminate) {
                     writeOutTerminationState();
                 }
-                
-                /**write out global aggregate value*/
+
+                /** write out global aggregate value */
                 writeOutGlobalAggregate();
             }
 
@@ -207,15 +241,27 @@
             }
 
             @Override
-            public void update(ITupleReference tupleRef) throws HyracksDataException {
+            public void update(ITupleReference tupleRef, ArrayTupleBuilder cloneUpdateTb) throws HyracksDataException {
                 try {
                     if (vertex != null && vertex.hasUpdate()) {
-                        int fieldCount = tupleRef.getFieldCount();
-                        for (int i = 1; i < fieldCount; i++) {
-                            byte[] data = tupleRef.getFieldData(i);
-                            int offset = tupleRef.getFieldStart(i);
-                            bbos.setByteArray(data, offset);
-                            vertex.write(output);
+                        if (!BspUtils.getDynamicVertexValueSize(conf)) {
+                            //in-place update
+                            int fieldCount = tupleRef.getFieldCount();
+                            for (int i = 1; i < fieldCount; i++) {
+                                byte[] data = tupleRef.getFieldData(i);
+                                int offset = tupleRef.getFieldStart(i);
+                                bbos.setByteArray(data, offset);
+                                vertex.write(output);
+                            }
+                        } else {
+                            //write the vertex id
+                            DataOutput tbOutput = cloneUpdateTb.getDataOutput();
+                            vertex.getVertexId().write(tbOutput);
+                            cloneUpdateTb.addFieldEndOffset();
+
+                            //write the vertex value
+                            vertex.write(tbOutput);
+                            cloneUpdateTb.addFieldEndOffset();
                         }
                     }
                 } catch (IOException e) {
@@ -224,5 +270,4 @@
             }
         };
     }
-
 }