Implementation and Performance of Application-Controlled File Caching

Abstract:

Traditional file systems do not allow applications to control file
caching replacement decisions. We have implemented two-level
replacement, a scheme that allows applications to control their own
cache replacement, while letting the kernel control the allocation of
cache space among processes. We let applications choose from a menu
of common policies that are implemented in the kernel. This is
effective and requires low overhead.
We demonstrate that for applications with large data sets, the
combination of good application-chosen replacement policies, and our
kernel allocation policy LRU-SP, can improve performance
significantly. We also show that LRU-SP is crucial to the performance
improvement for multiple concurrent applications: LRU-SP fairly
distributes cache blocks and offers protection against foolish
applications.

This technical report has been published as

Implementation and Performance of Application-Controlled File
Caching. pei Cao, Edward W. Felten and Kai Li,
Proc. of 1st Symposium on Operating Systems
Design and Implementation, pp. 165-178, November
1994.