Abstract Towards Scalable Benchmarks for Mass Storage Systems *

While mass storage systems have been used for several decades to store large quantities of scientific data, there has been little work on devising standard ways of measuring them. Each system is hand-tuned using parameters that seem to work best, but it is difficult to gauge the potential effect of similar changes on other systems. The proliferation of storage management software and policies has made it difficult for users to make the best choices for their own systems. The introduction of benchmarks will make it possible to gather standard performance measurements across disparate systems, allowing users to make intelligent choices of hardware, software, and algorithms for their mass storage system. This paper presents guidelines for the design of a mass storage system benchmark suite, along with preliminary suggestions for programs to be included. The benchmarks will measure both peak and sustained performance of the system as well as predicting both short-term and long-term behavior. These benchmarks should be both portable and scalable so they may be used on storage systems from tens of gigabytes to petabytes or more. By developing a standard set of benchmarks that reflect real user workload, we hope to encourage system designers and users to publish performance figures that can be compared with those of other systems. This will allow users to choose the system that best meets their needs best and give designers a tool with which they can measure the performance effects of improvements to their systems. 1