Flexible Content Placement in Cache Networks using Reinforced Counters

TL;DR

This paper introduces a reinforced counters mechanism for content placement in cache networks with random walk routing, analyzing its performance and demonstrating the NP-hardness of optimal static placement.

Contribution

It proposes a novel reinforced counters approach for dynamic content placement and provides analysis and parameter tuning for network performance optimization.

Findings

Reinforced counters effectively manage content placement.

Optimal static placement is NP-hard under various goals.

Parameter tuning achieves desired cache performance.

Abstract

In this paper we study the problem of content placement in a cache network. We consider a network where routing of requests is based on random walks. Content placement is done using a novel mechanism referred to as reinforced counters. To each content we associate a counter, which is incremented every time the content is requested, and which is decremented at a fixed rate. We model and analyze this mechanism, tuning its parameters so as to achieve desired performance goals for a single cache or for a cache network. We also show that the optimal static content placement, without reinforced counters, is NP hard under different design goals.