I/O workload characteristics of modern servers

The design and development of future I/O subsystems needs to keep pace with the rapid rate of improvement in microprocessor technology and changes in system structure. In order to analyze the potential bottlenecks of I/O subsystems, we must first identify and characterize the various workloads that will run on these future systems. This paper has two major goals. The first is to identify and analyze the application environments that are presently being implemented throughout the computing industry. The second goal is to identify and summarize the I/O subsystem characteristics of various present-day and future workloads that typify these application environments.