Analysis of a class of distributed directory algorithms

Three directory schemes are investigated: the local cache (LC) scheme in which there is a cache at the network nodes to store the results of a previous query for a remote resource so that a subsequent query for that resource can be resolved locally, and two enhancements of this scheme, namely the regional cache server (RCS) scheme and the cooperating cache servers (CCS) scheme, in which the queries not resolved locally are funneled through designated nodes or servers to reduce multiple network searchers for a given resource. The performance of these schemes in terms of the network search rate is dependent on the cache sizes at the nodes and servers, the probability distribution for queuing resources, and the cache replacement policy used to displace resources from the cache to accommodate newly discovered ones. Two policies are investigated: A₀, which is the optimal policy for the LC scheme, and the least recently used policy, which is of practical importance