Network-Centric Buffer Cache Organization

A pass-through server such as an NFS server backed by an iSCSI[1] storage server only passes data between the storage server and NFS clients. Ideally it should require at most one data copying operation on sending or receiving, as in normal IP routers. In practice, pass-through servers actually incur multiple data copying operations because they are implemented using a layered architecture where each layer has its own internal data representation. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a novel networkcentric buffer caching scheme called NCache that minimizes data copying overhead in pass-through servers without requiring significant changes to their existing implementation. By organizing the data being passed or cached in a network friendly format, NCache is able to eliminate all unnecessary data copying. The key innovation in NCache is that it exploits the fact that passthrough servers do not interpret data, by replacing physical copying with logical copyi...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ICDCS
• Authors: Gang Peng, Srikant Sharma, Tzi-cker Chiueh
• Keywords: Data Copying, Data Copying Operations, Distributed And Parallel Computing, ICDCS 2005, Pass-through Servers