Queue Network Modeling Approach to Analysis of the Optimal Stripe Unit Size for Disk Arrays under Synchronous I/O Workloads

Storage systems represent a growing market. In recent years there has been an explosion of applications that use enormous amounts of data. Disk arrays are today’s standard solution for enterprise class storage systems. One of the most crucial parameters in designing a disk array is the size of the striping unit. The paper presents and validates a performance model for RAID level 5. The model is created as a closed fork-join queue network (CFJQN) under synchronous I/O workloads. It can be used to compute the optimal strip unit size for disk arrays. Key Words: disk arrays; RAID; stripe unit size; queue network model; simulation