Exploring data reliability tradeoffs in replicated storage systems
Abdullah Gharaibeh, Matei Ripeanu · 2009
This paper explores the feasibility of a cost-efficient storage architecture that offers the reliability and access performance characteristics of a high-end system. This architecture exploits two opportunities: First, scavenging idle storage from LAN-connected desktops not only offers a low-cost storage space, but also high I/O throughput by aggregating the I/O channels of the participating nodes. Second, the two components of data reliability - durability and availability - can be decoupled to control overall system cost. To capitalize on these opportunities, we integrate two types of components: volatile, scavenged storage and dedicated, yet low-bandwidth durable storage. On the one hand, the durable storage forms a low-cost back-end that enables the system to restore the data the volatile nodes may lose. On the other hand, the volatile nodes provide a high-throughput front-end.