Characteristics of Destination Address Locality in Computer Networks: A Comparison of Caching Schemes

Abstract The size of computer networks, along with their bandwidths, is growing exponentially. To support these large, high-speed networks, it is necessary to be able to forward packets in a few microseconds. One part of the forwarding operation consists of searching through a large address database. This problem is encountered in the design of adapters, bridges, routers, gateways, and name servers. Caching can reduce the lookup time if there is a locality in the address reference pattern. Using a destination reference trace measured on an extended local area network, we attempt to see if the destination references do have a significant locality. We compared the performance of MIN, LRU, FIFO, and random cache replacement algorithms. We found that the interactive (terminal) traffic in our sample had a quite different locality behavior than that of the noninteractive traffic. The interactive traffic did not follow the LRU stack model while the noninteractive traffic did. Examples are shown of the environments in which caching can help as well as those in which caching can hurt, unless the cache size is large.

[1]  Raj Jain,et al.  Packet Trains-Measurements and a New Model for Computer Network Traffic , 1986, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun..

[2]  John S. Quarterman,et al.  Notable computer networks , 1986, CACM.

[3]  D. C. Feldmeier,et al.  Improving gateway performance with a routing-table cache , 1988, IEEE INFOCOM '88,Seventh Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communcations Societies. Networks: Evolution or Revolution?.

[4]  David R. Cheriton,et al.  The VMP network adapter board (NAB): high-performance network communication for multiprocessors , 1988, SIGCOMM 1988.

[5]  Irving L. Traiger,et al.  Evaluation Techniques for Storage Hierarchies , 1970, IBM Syst. J..

[6]  Jeffrey R. Spirn,et al.  Program Behavior: Models and Measurements , 1977 .

[7]  Oivind Kure.  Optimization of file migration in distributed systems , 1988 .

[8]  David R. Cheriton,et al.  The VMP network adapter board (NAB): high-performance network communication for multiprocessors , 1988, SIGCOMM '88.

[9]  Alan Jay Smith,et al.  Efficient Analysis of Caching Systems , 1987 .

[10]  Alan Jay Smith,et al.  Optimization of I/O systems by cache disks and file migration: A summary , 1981, Perform. Evaluation.

[11]  Jack E. Shemer,et al.  Statistical Analysis of Paged and Segmented Computer Systems , 1966, IEEE Trans. Electron. Comput..

[12]  Jennifer M. Murphy,et al.  The Measurement of Locality and the Behaviour of Programs , 1984, Comput. J..

[13]  Rick Floyd,et al.  Directory Reference Patterns in a UNIX Environment. , 1986 .

[14]  Alan Jay Smith,et al.  Cache Memories , 1982, CSUR.

[15]  Anna R. Karlin,et al.  Competitive snoopy caching , 1986, 27th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (sfcs 1986).

[16]  Peter J. Denning,et al.  The working set model for program behavior , 1968, CACM.

[17]  Rick Floyd.  Short-Term File Reference Patterns in a UNIX Environment, , 1986 .

[18]  Laszlo A. Belady,et al.  A Study of Replacement Algorithms for Virtual-Storage Computer , 1966, IBM Syst. J..

[19]  Alan J Smith.  Problems, Directions and Issues in Memory Hierarchy , 1984 .

[20]  William D. Strecker.  Cache memories for PDP-11 family computers , 1976, ISCA.

[21]  B. Hawe,et al.  Transparent interconnection of local area networks with bridges , 1984 .

[22]  Gururaj S. Rao,et al.  Performance Analysis of Cache Memories , 1978, JACM.

[23]  David K. Gifford,et al.  A caching file system for a programmer's workstation , 1985, SOSP '85.

[24]  Mahadev Satyanarayanan,et al.  Design Trade-Offs in VAX-11 Translation Buffer Organization , 1981, Computer.

[25]  Vijay K. Garg,et al.  EFFECT OF LOCALITY IN LARGE NETWORKS. , 1987 .