Distributed Versioned Object Storage -- Alternatives at the OSD layer (Poster Extended Abstract)

TL;DR

This paper explores the design of a generic distributed multiversioning object storage system, analyzing various domain-specific versioning approaches to identify core components and trade-offs at the storage layer.

Contribution

It proposes a framework for a flexible, multi-domain versioned storage service and presents early results on the trade-offs involved in implementing versioning at the storage layer.

Findings

Quantified trade-offs in local storage versioning

Identified core components for a generic multiversion storage system

Analyzed domain-specific versioning techniques

Abstract

The ability to store multiple versions of a data item is a powerful primitive that has had a wide variety of uses: relational databases, transactional memory, version control systems, to name a few. However, each implementation uses a very particular form of versioning that is customized to the domain in question and hidden away from the user. In our going project, we are reviewing and analyzing multiple uses of versioning in distinct domains, with the goal of identifying the basic components required to provide a generic distributed multiversioning object storage service, and define how these can be customized in order to serve distinct needs. With this primitive, new services can leverage multiversioning to ease development and provide specific consistency guarantees that address particular use cases. This work presents early results that quantify the trade-offs in implementing versioning at the local storage layer.