FlashLogging: exploiting flash devices for synchronous logging performance

Synchronous transactional logging is the central mechanism for ensuring data persistency and recoverability in database systems. Unfortunately, magnetic disks are ill-suited for the small sequential write pattern of synchronous logging. Alternative solutions (e.g., backup servers or sophisticated battery-backed write caches in high-end disk arrays) are either expensive or complicated. In this paper, we exploit flash devices for synchronous logging based on the observation that flash devices support small sequential writes well. Comparing a wide variety of flash devices, we find that USB flash drives are a good match for this task because of its unique characteristics: widely available USB ports, hot-plug capability useful for coping with flash wear, and low price so that multiple drives are affordable. We propose FlashLogging, a logging solution that exploits multiple (USB) flash drives for synchronous logging. We identify and address four challenges: (i) efficiently exploiting multip...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: SIGMOD
• Authors: Shimin Chen
• Keywords: Database, Multiple Flash Drives, SIGMOD 2009, Synchronous Transactional Logging, USB Flash Drives