To improve data center efficiency
Multiple storage devices are often pooled together over a network so many applications can share them. But even with pooling, significant device capacity remains underutilized due to performance variability across the devices.
MIT researchers’ innovative system
MIT researchers have now developed a system that boosts the performance of storage devices by handling three major sources of variability simultaneously. Their approach delivers significant speed improvements over traditional methods that tackle only one source of variability at a time.
Two-tier architecture for enhanced performance
The system uses a two-tier architecture, with a central controller that makes big-picture decisions about which tasks each storage device performs, and local controllers for each machine that rapidly reroute data if that device is struggling.
Leveraging untapped performance with Sandook
Solid-state drives (SSDs) are high-performance digital storage devices that allow applications to read and write data. To utilize untapped SSD performance, the researchers developed Sandook, a software-based system that tackles three major forms of performance-hampering variability simultaneously.
Plan globally, react locally with Sandook
To handle all three sources of variability, Sandook utilizes a two-tier structure. A global scheduler optimizes the distribution of tasks for the overall pool, while faster schedulers on each SSD react to urgent events and shift operations away from congested devices.
Impressive results and future directions
The researchers tested Sandook on a pool of 10 SSDs and evaluated the system on various tasks. Sandook boosted the throughput of each application significantly when compared to static methods and improved the overall utilization of SSD capacity. In the future, the researchers aim to incorporate new protocols available on the latest SSDs and leverage predictability in AI workloads to increase the efficiency of SSD operations.
Expert opinion and funding
Josh Fried, a software engineer at Google, commended the research for moving the needle forward in flash storage technology. This research was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.Kindly read our copyright disclaimer here: https://cere-sync.com/dmca-copyrights-disclaimer/