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非常适合在高性能计算系统中运行的数据密集型应用程序。提高并行磁盘的能效是下一代高性能计算系统的内在要求，因为一个存储子系统可以代表数据中心所消耗能量的27%。然而，如何为并行磁盘节约能源，并高效地协调数百或数千个并发磁盘设备的I/O以满足高性能和节能的要求，是一个重大挑战。本研究探讨新的节能技术，以提供显著的节能效果，同时实现低成本和高性能的并行磁盘。在这项研究项目中，研究人员采取了有组织的方法来实施并行磁盘节能技术，模拟节能的并行磁盘系统，并进行物理演示。本研究涉及四个方面的工作：(1)设计并开发一种降低并行磁盘系统能量消耗的缓冲-磁盘(BUD)结构；(2)开发创新的节能技术，包括与能量相关的可靠性模型、能量感知的数据分区、磁盘请求处理、数据移动、数据放置、预取策略和缓冲磁盘的电源管理；(3)实现一个用于开发各种节能技术及其在BUD结构中的集成的仿真工具包(BUDSIM)；以及(4)使用在高性能集群上运行的真实数据密集型应用程序，验证Bud架构和我们的创新节能技术。这项研究可以通过开发经济上有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和减少空气污染物的排放。此外，BUD体系结构和节能技术可以移植到功率限制比传统磁盘系统更严格的嵌入式磁盘系统中。

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.