SEP: a space efficient pipelining technique for managing disk buffers in multimedia servers

We present techniques for managing disks as a buffer for the tertiary storage of multimedia servers. A unified disk space is used to not only cache frequently referenced objects, but also to provide staging buffers for playing back objects. A new staging technique and three buffer replacement policies are investigated. The simulation results indicate that the staging method is very efficient, and each of the replacement policies offers significant additional improvement. Some of the performance issues are also analyzed analytically. The mathematical model provides guidelines for good multimedia systems design using the proposed techniques.