Phaeton: a log-based architecture for high performance file server design

An analysis of the construction of high performance network file servers is presented. Phaeton, a log-disk based architecture is proposed to achieve sequential disk access speeds for both modification and non-modification requests, while maintaining strict semantics and recoverability in the presence of failure. The Phaeton architecture is capable of providing dramatic improvement of the single-server file service and also the multi-server replicated service. A new replication model, called the Symmetric Primary-backup Model, that combines the network file service with the Phaeton storage architecture is also included. In their previous research the authors had implemented TOFF, a fault-tolerant network file service based on the Sun NFS protocol. TOFF-2 is a revolution version using both the Phaeton architecture and the Symmetric Primary-backup Model to unleash the potential bandwidth in the replicated service and provide much better performance than TOFF or other single-server file services.