ReSSD: a software layer for resuscitating SSDs from poor small random write performance

NAND flash-based solid state drives have emerged as revolutionary storage media during recent years. However, the wide-spread of SSD technology is currently obstructed by the fact that the random write bandwidth is lower than the sequential write bandwidth by several orders of magnitude. This paper proposes a novel software layer called ReSSD whose purpose is to resuscitate SSDs from poor small random write performance with low memory usage. ReSSD works as a virtual block device on SSD which does not require any modifications of the operating system kernel and applications. By inspecting all incoming requests, ReSSD identifies small random writes which have potential to degrade SSD’s performance significantly and transforms them into sequential and ordered-sequential writes which are more favorable to SSDs. Our evaluation results through Postmark show that ReSSD improves the overall performance by up to 72% with using a few megabytes of kernel memory. Categories and Subject Desc...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: SAC
• Authors: Youngjae Lee, Jin-Soo Kim, Seungryoul Maeng
• Keywords: Applied Computing, Random Write, SAC 2010, Small Random Write, Solid State Drive