Class of Service in the High Performance Storage System

Quality of service capabilities are commonly deployed in archival mass storage systems as one or more client-specified parameters to influence physical location of data in multi-level device hierarchies for performance or cost reasons. The capabilities of new high-performance storage architectures and the needs of data-intensive applications require better quality of service models for modern storage systems. HPSS, a new distributed, high-performance, scalable, storage system, uses a Class of Service (COS) structure to influence system behavior. The authors summarize the design objectives and functionality of HPSS and describes how COS defines a set of performance, media, and residency attributes assigned to storage objects managed by HPSS servers. COS definitions are used to provide appropriate behavior and service levels as requested (or demanded) by storage system clients. They compare the HPSS COS approach with other quality of service concepts and discuss alignment possibilities