Abstract: Storing multiple copies of files is crucial for ensuring quality of service for data storage in mobile networks. This paper proposes a new scheme, called the K-out-of-N file distribution scheme, for the placement of files. In this scheme files are splitted, and Reed-Solomon codes or other maximum distance seperable (MDS) codes are used to produce file segments containing parity information. Multiple copies of the file segments are stored on gateways in the network in such a way that every gateway can retrieve enough file segments from itself and its neighbors within a certain amount of hops for reconstructing the orginal files. The goal is to minimize the maximum number of hops it takes for any gateway to get enough file segments for the file reconstruction. We formulate the K-out-of-N file distribution scheme as a coloring problem we call diversity coloring. A diversity coloring is defined to be optimal if it uses the smallest number of colors. Upper and lower bounds on the performance of diversity coloring for general graphs are studied. Diversity coloring algorithms for several special classes of graphs—trees, rings and tori—are presented, all of which have linear time complexity. Both the algorithm for trees and the algorithm for rings output optimal diversity colorings. The algorithm for tori guarantees to output optimal diversity coloring when the sizes of tori are sufficiently large. Index Terms: Data storage, diversity coloring, file assignment problem (FAP), graph coloring, K-out-of-N scheme, maximum distance seperable (MDS) codes, mobile computing, Quality of Service

Dominating sets in their many variations model a wealth of optimization problems like facility location or distributed file sharing. For instance, when a request can occur at any node in a graph and requires a server at that node, a minimumdominating set represents a minimum set of servers that serve an arbitrary single request by moving a server along at most one edge. This paper studies domination problems for two requests. For the problem of placing a minimum number of servers such that two requests at different nodes can be served with two different servers (called win-win), we present a logarithmic approximation, and we prove that nothing better is possible. We show that the same is true for Roman domination, the well studied problem variant that asks for each vertex to either possess its own server or to have a neighbor with two servers. Still the same is true if each idle server can move along one edge while the first of both requests is being served. For planar graphs, we propose a PTAS for Roman domination (and show that nothing better exists), and we get a constant approximation for win-win.

Interleaving codewords is an important method not only for combatting burst-errors, but also for flexible data-retrieving. This paper defines the Multi-Cluster Interleaving (MCI) problem, an interleaving problem for parallel data-retrieving. The MCI problems on linear arrays and rings are studied. The following problem is completely solved: how to interleave integers on a linear array or ring such that any m (m ≥ 2) non-overlapping segments of length 2 in the array or ring have at least 3 distinct integers. We then present a scheme using a ‘hierarchical-chain structure’ to solve the following more general problem for linear arrays: how to interleave integers on a linear array such that any m (m ≥ 2) non-overlapping segments of length L (L ≥ 2) in the array have at least L + 1 distinct integers. It is shown that the scheme using the ‘hierarchical-chain structure’ solves the second interleaving problem for arrays that are asymptotically as long as the longest array on which an MCI exists, and clearly, for shorter arrays as well.

Abstract—We consider the problem of optimally allocating a given total storage budget in a distributed storage system. A source has a data object which it can code and store over a set of storage nodes; it is allowed to store any amount of coded data in each node, as long as the total amount of storage used does not exceed the given budget. A data collector subsequently attempts to recover the original data object by accessing each of the nodes independently with some constant probability. By using an appropriate code, successful recovery occurs when the total amount of data in the accessed nodes is at least the size of the original data object. The goal is to find an optimal storage allocation that maximizes the probability of successful recovery. This optimization problem is challenging because of its discrete nature and nonconvexity, despite its simple formulation. Symmetric allocations (in which all nonempty nodes store the same amount of data), though intuitive, may be suboptimal; the problem is nontrivial even if we optimize over only symmetric allocations. Our main result shows that the symmetric allocation that spreads the budget maximally over all nodes is asymptotically optimal in a regime of interest. Specifically, we derive an upper bound for the suboptimality of this allocation and show that the performance gap vanishes asymptotically in the specified regime. Further, we explicitly find the optimal symmetric allocation for a variety of cases. Our results can be applied to distributed storage systems and other problems dealing with reliability under uncertainty, including delay tolerant networks (DTNs) and content delivery networks (CDNs). I.

Abstract not found

Peer-to-peer networks are networks of heterogeneous computers sharing files or services. This paper proposes to use a data storage scheme using maximum distance separable codes to optimize the dissemination of the data in the network in order to globally enhance the data access.