Abstract

AbstractWe study the use of non‐volatile memory for caching in distributed file systems. This provides an advantage over traditional distributed file systems in that the load is reduced at the server without making the data vulnerable to failures. We propose the use of a small non‐volatile cache for writes, at the client and the file server, together with a larger volatile read cache to keep the cost of the caches reasonable.We use a synthetic workload developed from analysis of file I/O traces from commercial production systems and use a detailed simulation of the distributed environment. The service times for the resources of the system were derived from measurements performed on a typical workstation.We show that non‐volatile write caches at the clients and the file server reduce the write response time and the load on the file server dramatically, thus improving the scalability of the system. We examine the comparative benefits of two alternative writeback policies for the non‐volatile write cache. We show that a proposed threshold based writeback policy is more effective than a periodic writeback policy under heavy load. We also investigate the effect of varying the write cache size and show that introducing a small non‐volatile cache at the client in conjunction with a moderate sized non‐volatile server write cache improves the write response time by a factor of four at all load levels.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.