Improving Object Storage Performance and Efficiency through Network Integration

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Modern object storage systems are built following the network-oblivious approach, in which the network isused as a black-box point-to-point communication medium, while storage logic and protocols are implementedentirely in client libraries and server codes. Unfortunately, this approach is fundamentally inefficient. Thisdesign approach directly affects two core storage operations: request routing, which directs requests fromclients to storage nodes, and consistent replication, for maintaining data consistency while preventing data losswhen nodes or storage devices fail.This project aims to explore new designs to improve the efficiency and performance of request routing andconsistent replication mechanisms. The new approach will design storage-aware network operations that canutilize storage metadata to perform in-network request routing and to maintain data consistently in spite ofnodes and network failures.The innovative paradigm we will explore has the potential to have a wide influence on technology, includingNetApp Canada that builds a Web-scale object storage system. Furthermore, for data centers (including themore than 200 centers located in Canada), this research program will improve a key component in theinfrastructure and bring benefits to a wide set of cloud applications, including applications in fields such asbioinformatics and medical informatics, online social networks, smart energy distribution systems, and textanalytics. Finally, this program will provide an invaluable opportunity for training highly qualified personnelon cutting-edge networking and storage technology.