Detection and exploitation of file working sets

The work habits of many individuals yield file access patterns that are quite pronounced and can be regarded as defining working sets of files used for particular applications. A client management technique for detecting these patterns and then exploiting them to successfully prefetch files from servers is described. Trace-driven simulations show the technique substantially increases file cache hit rate in a single-user environment. Successful file prefetching carries three major advantages: applications run faster, there is less burst load placed on the network, and properly loaded client caches can better survive network outages. The technique requires little extra code, and-because it is simply an augmentation of the standard LRU client cache management algorithm-is easily incorporated into existing software.< >