An advanced filestore architecture for a multiple-LAN distributed computing system

Santana, Marcos José (1989) An advanced filestore architecture for a multiple-LAN distributed computing system. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

This thesis addresses the general problem of overall performance in a multi-LAN distributed computing system. The design and implementation of a fast bridge to support a star-ring structure is presented and the associated performance aspects are discussed. A new multi-server filestore architecture (MIFIA) is proposed to improve overall system performance in a session-based environment (TRICE). MIFIA introduces a three-level backing-storage organisation with current file servers, home file servers and archive servers together with the adoption of dynamic user allocation and dynamic load balancing mechanisms. MIFIA improves system performance by reducing the overall response times experienced by the distant users, optimises the bridge traffic by avoiding (as far as possible) the connection of users' workstations to file servers through bridges and balances the overall file server loading mechanism. MIFIA is described in detail and each individual element is analysed with design alternatives being suggested. A high-level model proposed to describe MIFIA is used in a SMPL simulation model to evaluate the performance achieved in TRICE when MIFIA is adopted as well as to compare with results obtained when the TRICE standard filestore is used. Results from several tests are presented to demonstrate the superiority of the concepts adopted in MIFIA. For typical situations, the improvements realised with the adoption of MIFIA are about 30 per cent in response times and 50 per cent in bridge traffic; file server balancing is over 95 per cent.

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