Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product for storing data in a disk storage system is presented. A high-performance dictionary data structure is defined. The dictionary data structure is stored on a disk storage system. Key-value pairs can be inserted and deleted into the dictionary data structure. Updates run faster than one insertion per disk-head movement. The structure can also be stored on any system with two or more levels of memory. The dictionary is high performance and supports with full transactional semantics, concurrent access from multiple transactions, and logging and recovery. Keys can be looked up with only a logarithmic number of transfers, even for keys that have been recently inserted or deleted. Queries can be performed on ranges of key-value pairs, including recently inserted or deleted pairs, at a constant fraction of the bandwidth of the disk.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product for storing data in a disk storage system is presented. A high-performance dictionary data structure is defined. The dictionary data structure is stored on a disk storage system. Key-value pairs can be inserted and deleted into the dictionary data structure. Updates run faster than one insertion per disk-head movement. The structure can also be stored on any system with two or more levels of memory. The dictionary is high performance and supports with full transactional semantics, concurrent access from multiple transactions, and logging and recovery. Keys can be looked up with only a logarithmic number of transfers, even for keys that have been recently inserted or deleted. Queries can be performed on ranges of key-value pairs, including recently inserted or deleted pairs, at a constant fraction of the bandwidth of the disk.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and computer program product for storing data in a disk storage system is presented. A high-performance dictionary data structure is defined. The dictionary data structure is stored on a disk storage system. Key-value pairs can be inserted and deleted into the dictionary data structure. Updates run faster than one insertion per disk-head movement. The structure can also be stored on any system with two or more levels of memory. The dictionary is high performance and supports with full transactional semantics, concurrent access from multiple transactions, and logging and recovery. Keys can be looked up with only a logarithmic number of transfers, even for keys that have been recently inserted or deleted. Queries can be performed on ranges of key-value pairs, including recently inserted or deleted pairs, at a constant fraction of the bandwidth of the disk.

Abstract: A paging method for information retrieval from broadcast disk systems is described. In response to a page request (e.g., a request for an item of data), the method selectively stores and evicts, in and from a fast memory, pages of data broadcasted by the broadcast disk system. The methods proceeds using a three-“color” labelling scheme, wherein the label assigned to a broadcasted page is based on how recently a given page was last requested. If a requested page is stored in fast memory, then the request is immediately served. If the requested page is not stored in fast memory, the request cannot be served until the requested page is broadcasted. While waiting for the requested page to be broadcasted, certain “somewhat-recently” requested pages are “prefetched,” wherein they are stored in fast memory even though there is no pending request for such pages.