Local Disk Caching for Client-Server Database Systems

Client disks ure a valuable resource that ure not adequately exploited by current client-server ciatabase systems. In this papeG we propose the use of client disks for caching database pages in an extended cache architecture. We describe four algorithms .fi)r managing disk caches and investigate the tradeoffs inherent in keeping a large volume of disk-cached data consistent using u detailed simulation model. The study shows that significant performance gains can be obtained through client disk caching; particulurly if the client disk caches ure kept consistent. We also address two extensions to the algorithms that arise due to the pc,tiormance characteristics of large disk caches: I) methods to reduce the work performed by the server to ensure transaction durability, and 2) techniques for bringing a large disk-resident cache up-to-date after an extended off-line period.