BUD: A Buffer-Disk Architecture for Energy Conservation in Parallel Disk Systems

由多个具有高速交换互连的磁盘组成的并行磁盘是在高性能计算系统中运行的数据密集型应用程序的理想选择。提高并行磁盘的能源效率是下一代高性能计算系统的内在要求，因为存储子系统可以代表数据中心消耗的27%的能源。然而，如何高效地协调成百上千个并发磁盘设备的I/O，以满足高性能和节能的要求，是并行磁盘节能的主要挑战。本研究探讨新的节能技术，以提供显着的节能，同时实现低成本和高性能的并行磁盘。在这个研究项目中，研究人员采取有组织的方法来实现并行磁盘的节能技术，模拟节能并行磁盘系统，并进行物理演示。本文的研究工作包括四个方面：（1）设计和开发一种缓冲盘（BUD）结构，以降低并行磁盘系统的能量消耗;（2）开发创新的节能技术，包括能量相关的可靠性模型、能量感知的数据划分、磁盘请求处理、数据移动、数据放置、预取策略和缓冲盘的电源管理;（3）实现一个模拟工具包（BUDSIM），用于开发各种节能技术并将其集成到BUD架构中;（4）使用在高性能集群上运行的真实的数据密集型应用程序，验证BUD架构沿着我们的创新节能技术。这项研究可以通过开发具有经济吸引力和环境友好的并行磁盘系统来造福社会，这些系统能够降低电费并减少空气污染物的排放。此外，BUD架构和节能技术可以转移到嵌入式磁盘系统，其中功率约束比传统的磁盘系统更严重。

Parallel disks consisting of multiple disks with high-speed switched interconnect are ideal for data-intensive applications running in high-performance computing systems. Improving the energy efficiency of parallel disks is an intrinsic requirement of next generation high-performance computing systems, because a storage subsystem can represent 27% of the energy consumed in a data center. However, it is a major challenge to conserve energy for parallel disks and energy efficiently coordinate I/Os of hundreds or thousands of concurrent disk devices to meet high-performance and energy-saving requirements. This research investigates novel energy conservation techniques to provide significant energy savings while achieving low-cost and high-performance for parallel disks. In this research project, the investigators take an organized approach to implementing energy-saving techniques for parallel disks, simulating energy-efficient parallel disk systems, and conducting a physical demonstration. This research involves four tasks: (1) design and develop a buffer-disk (BUD) architecture to reduce energy dissipation in parallel disk systems; (2) develop innovative energy-saving techniques, including an energy-related reliability model, energy-aware data partitioning, disk request processing, data movement, data placement, prefetching strategies, and power management for buffer disks; (3) implement a simulation toolkit (BUDSIM) used to develop a variety of energy-saving techniques and their integration in the BUD architecture; and (4) validate the BUD architecture along with our innovative energy-conservation techniques using real data-intensive applications running on high-performance clusters. This research can benefit society by developing economically attractive and environmentally friendly parallel disk systems, which are able to lower electricity bills and reduce emissions of air pollutants. Furthermore, the BUD architecture and the energy-conservation techniques can be transferable to embedded disk systems, where power constraints are more severe than conventional disk systems.