JFTL: A flash translation layer based on a journal remapping for flash memory

ABSTRACT

In flash memory-based storage, a Flash Translation Layer (FTL) manages the mapping between the logical addresses of a file system and the physical addresses of the flash memory. When a journaling file system is set up on the FTL, the consistency of the file system is guaranteed by duplications of the same file system changes in both the journal region of the file system and the home locations of the changes. However, these duplications inevitably degrade the performance of the file system. In this article we present an efficient FTL, called JFTL, based on a journal remapping technique. The FTL uses an address mapping method to write all the data to a new region in a process known as an out-of-place update. Because of this process, the existing data in flash memory is not overwritten by such an update. By using this characteristic of the FTL, the JFTL remaps addresses of the logged file system changes to addresses of the home locations of the changes, instead of writing the changes once more to flash memory. Thus, the JFTL efficiently eliminates redundant data in the flash memory as well as preserving the consistency of the journaling file system. Our experiments confirm that, when associated with a writeback or ordered mode of a conventional EXT3 file system, the JFTL enhances the performance of EXT3 by up to 20%. Furthermore, when the JFTL operates with a journaled mode of EXT3, there is almost a twofold performance gain in many cases. Moreover, the recovery performance of the JFTL is much better than that of the FTL.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.3 SPECIAL-PURPOSE AND APPLICATION-BASED SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Real-time and embedded systems

Additional Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.3 MEMORY STRUCTURES
      B.3.2 Design Styles
          Subjects: Mass storage (e.g., magnetic, optical, RAID)

  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.3 File Systems Management

Keywords:
Flash memory, flash translation layer, garbage detection, journal remapping, journaling file system