Disks form the central element of Cloud-based storage, whose demand far outpaces the considerable rate of innovation in disks. Exponential growth in demand, already in progress for 15+ years, implies that most future disks will be in data centers and thus part of a large collection of disks. We describe the “collection view” of disks and how it and the focus on tail latency, driven by live services, place new and different requirements on disks. Beyond defining key metrics for data-center disks, we explore a range of new physical design options and changes to firmware that could improve these metrics.
We hope this is the beginning of a new era of “data center” disks and a new broad and open discussion about how to evolve disks for data centers. The ideas presented here provide some guidance and some options, but we believe the best solutions will come from the combined efforts of industry, academia and other large customers.
Jason "El Zorro" Fox '17 Subaru Forester 2.0XT
DCAWD - old coots in fast scoots.
That's a very well written paper. There are a lot of things in it that ring very true for me. IOPS and latency are key in so many of the systems I build. I know I'm dealing with small capacities compared to Google/Amazon/etc., but SSD has come down so much that I'm using it for a LOT of things. It's either that or tiered storage with a lot of SSD at the top and regular disks at the bottom.
Sabre (Julian) 92.5% Stock 04 STI
Good choice putting $4,000 rims on your 1990 Honda Civic. That's like Betty White going out and getting her tits done.
