Global workload characterization of a large scale satellite image distribution system

Online content distribution systems, which store incredibly large amounts of information and provide service to large numbers of users, are becoming increasingly commonplace. To fulfill the wide range of requests sent by different users, these systems must ensure efficient handling of massive amount of data. To achieve this goal, the in-depth analysis and comprehensive understanding of user behaviors are critical. However, analyzing the behaviors of worldwide users with different needs is a very challenging task. This is especially true when historical user behaviors evolve over time or may be affected by unpredictable events. In this paper, we present a number of workload characterization techniques applied to one of the world's largest online satellite image distribution systems operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA.