Performance evaluation of LAN-based file servers

This thesis is concerned with the evaluation of LAN-based file servers. The influence of different structures in the file server performance is investigated by means of simulation models. A tool set for performance evaluation of LAN-based file servers was developed using the TRICE system as a reference environment. The model proposed is composed of two basic modules: the workload model that generates a synthetic load and the file server model which is a low-level model driven by the workload model. Both models were based on real data acquired from the TRICE file system over several weeks of live operation. The models were implemented in a structured fashion, permitting modifications for different models straightforward for both the file server and the workstation characteristics. The use of occam2 running in a T800 transputer allowed the achievement of fast simulations and consequently the execution of a large number of examples. The tool set developed has been used to investigate a number of alternative designs to improve the TRICE file server performance. Simulation results demonstrated the influence of a number of design alternatives, including the use of different cache strategies, the minimization of disk and processor time and the adoption of parallel processing in the file server.