Simulation Model and Instrument to Evaluate Replication Techniques

Fault tolerance in distributed systems relies heavily on some form of replication. Replication can also be used to reduce the access latency and the bandwidth consumption in large scale distributed systems. However, in case of large volumes of data, the replica placing strategy and the consistency algorithms become key factors for the performance of the data replication strategy. We present a simulation model designed to realistically evaluate replication solutions for large scale distributed systems. The model was implemented as an extension of the MONARC simulator. In this context, we present a scalable architecture designed to facilitate the adoption of data replication strategies in large scale distributed systems. The solution combines a hybrid replication model with a proposed fault tolerant strategy for data consistency. We present evaluation results of this strategy using the MONARC simulator.