A Simulation Methodology for Distributed Storage

An event-based simulation system is introduced, designed for performance assessment of distributed storage systems. Such storage systems employ the commu- nication network to connect several distributed storage units to a virtual storage system that provides higher capacity, better performance and that is tolerant against storage unit failures. By simulation, several data distribution st rategies and redundancy lay- outs can be analyzed, particularly focusing on effects caused by load imbalances and asynchronous operation of storage units. In this paper, a methodology is introduced to simulate (i) the effects of scaling the distribution degree and (ii) the effects of access load balancing techniques. This helps to design proper data and redundancy layouts for distributed data storage systems.