Silverback: A Global-Scale Archival System

Authors:
Weatherspoon, Hakim
Wells, Chris
Eaton, Patrick R
Zhao, Ben Y
Kubiatowicz, John D
Technical Report Identifier: CSD-01-1139
March 2001
CSD-01-1139.pdf
CSD-01-1139.ps

Abstract: The rise of ubiquitous computing has created a need for wide-area durable storage. We propose a model and interface for such an archival system, that stores data in a durable, verifiable, available, and self-maintainable manner. We argue that such a system can be created by using novel techniques of erasure codes, secure hashing, and decentralized wide-area location infrastructures to distribute fragments across the wide-area on an arbitrary set of servers. This model allows files to remain available even as servers fail. Finally, we implement Silverback, a prototype archival system using the model that we developed, and measure its performance.