The Isomorphism of Simple File Allocation

In this paper, we show that the simple file allocation problem in computer science is isomorphic to the single commodity warehouse location problem in operations research. In simple file allocation, costs due to query and update accesses and storage are considered. Design requirements such as reliability, availability, and delay are not taken into account. Due to this isomorphism, many techniques which have been developed for the warehouse location problem can be applied to solve the simple file allocation problem. Furthermore, there are techniques and conditions developed for one problem which match closely with techniques and conditions developed for the other problem. Based on a combined set of conditions developed in computer science and operations research, a heuristic for file allocation is presented.