Garbage collection for a client-server persistent object store

Abstract

We describe an efficient server-based algorithm for garbage collecting persistent object stores in a client-server environment. The algorithm is incremental and runs concurrently with client transactions. Unlike previous algorithms, it does not hold any transactional locks on data and does not require callbacks to clients. It is fault-tolerant, but performs very little logging. The algorithm has been designed to be integrated into existing systems, and therefore it works with standard implementation techniques such as Two-Phase Locking and Write-Ahead-Logging. In addition, it supports client-server performance optimizations such as client caching and flexible management of client buffers. We describe an implementation of the algorithm in the EXODUS storage manager and present the results of a performance study of the implementation.