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 Broadcast Disks

 
 

The Broadcast Disks project takes a push-based approach to address data dissemination issues in asymetric client-server environments. Among the various contributions of the project are: 

  • We show that for asymetric networks, (ie. where effective bandwidth from server to client is significantly higher than in the reverse direction), a push-based model is not only more efficient in terms of performance but also significantly improves system scalability, when compared to traditional pull-based systems. 
  • We present the Broadcast Disks model as a framework for doing periodic broadcast push. The broadcast is modeled as a number of interleaved "disks", each of different sizes and spinning at different speeds. Using this formulation, the model is able to deliver data items to the clients at different rates commensurate with their utility to the client population.
  • We propose and demonstrate the efficacy of a novel approach to cache management called cost-based caching. We also investigate the utility of prefetching in a push-based environment.
  • We address the problem of maintaining client cache consistency in the presence of updates and show that the broadcast environment is very robust in such environments.


To read in detail about the Broadcast Disks project, download Swarup Acharya's thesis report. Swarup recently finished his Phd at Brown and is now at Bell Laboratories. 
"Broadcast Disks": Dissemination-based Data Management for Asymmetric Communication Environments, S Acharya, Ph.D Thesis, Brown University (gzip'ed ps).