Cooperative caching: using remote client memory to improve file system performance

TLDR

Emerging high‑speed networks enable remote data access nearly as fast as local access, motivating the coordination of file caches across LAN machines to form a more effective overall cache. The study examines four cooperative caching algorithms using a trace‑driven simulation. The authors evaluate these algorithms via trace‑driven simulation to assess their impact on disk access and read latency. Simulations show cooperative caching can halve disk accesses and improve read response time by up to 73 %, with relatively simple algorithms realizing most of the performance gain.

Abstract

Emerging high-speed networks will allow machines to access remote data nearly as quickly as they can access local data. This trend motivates the use of cooperative caching: coordinating the file caches of many machines distributed on a LAN to form a more effective overall file cache. In this paper we examine four cooperative caching algorithms using a trace-driven simulation study. These simulations indicate that for the systems studied cooperative caching can halve the number of disk accesses, improving file system read response time by as much as 73%. Based on these simulations we conclude that cooperative caching can significantly improve file system read response time and that relatively simple cooperative caching algorithms are sufficient to realize most of the potential performance gain.