The Utility of File Names

For typical workloads and file naming conventions, the size, lifespan, read/write ratio, and access pattern of nearly all files in a file system are accurately predicted by the name given to the file when it is created. We discuss some name-related properties observed in three contemporary NFS workloads, and present a method for automatically creating name-based models to predict interesting file properties of new files, and analyze the accuracy of these models for our workloads. Finally, we show how these predictions can be used as hints to optimize the strategies used by the file system to manage new files when they are created.