The optimal location of replicas in a network using a READ-ONE-WRITE-ALL policy

Abstract.

We consider the problem of locating replicas in a network to minimize communications costs. Under the assumption that the read-one-write-all policy is used to ensure data consistency, an optimization problem is formulated in which the cost function estimates the total communications costs. The paper concentrates on the study of the optimal communications cost as a function of the ratio between the frequency of the read and write operations. The problem is reformulated as a zero-one linear programming problem, and its connection to the p-median problem is explained. The general problem is proved to be NP-complete. For path graphs a dynamic programming algorithm for the problem is presented.