Faster than Flash: An In-Depth Study of System Challenges for Emerging Ultra-Low Latency SSDs

Changrim Lee; Jie Zhang; Junhyeok Jang; Miryeong Kwon; Myoungsoo Jung; Sungjoon Koh

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Faster than Flash: An In-Depth Study of System Challenges for Emerging Ultra-Low Latency SSDs

Sungjoon Koh, Junhyeok Jang, Changrim Lee, Miryeong Kwon, Jie Zhang, Myoungsoo Jung

Operating Systems · Submitted 15 Dec 2019

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim Based on the performance behaviors that this study uncovers, we also discuss several system implications, which are required to take a full advantage of ULL SSD in the future.

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arXiv ID1912.06998 (version 1)

Pith IDRGYYZ5FC, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationChangrim Lee, Jie Zhang, Junhyeok Jang, Miryeong Kwon, Myoungsoo Jung, Sungjoon Koh. "Faster than Flash: An In-Depth Study of System Challenges for Emerging Ultra-Low Latency SSDs." arXiv:1912.06998 (2019). https://pith.science/paper/RGYYZ5FC

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The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

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Compiled by classifier-1.13.0 via TypeSafe API, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 6,424 input tokens.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.73 · states limitation 0.18 · human participants 0.02 · controlled comparison 0.90 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.30 · compares with prior results 0.88 · mentions code or data availability 0.03.

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arXiv listing abstract v1. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

Emerging storage systems with new flash exhibit ultra-low latency (ULL) that can address performance disparities between DRAM and conventional solid state drives (SSDs) in the memory hierarchy. Considering the advanced low-latency characteristics, different types of I/O completion methods (polling/hybrid) and storage stack architecture (SPDK) are proposed. While these new techniques are expected to take costly software interventions off the critical path in ULL-applied systems, unfortunately no study exists to quantitatively analyze system-level characteristics and challenges of combining such newly-introduced techniques with real ULL SSDs. In this work, we comprehensively perform empirical evaluations with 800GB ULL SSD prototypes and characterize ULL behaviors by considering a wide range of I/O path parameters, such as different queues and access patterns. We then analyze the efficiencies and challenges of the polled-mode and hybrid polling I/O completion methods (added into Linux kernels 4.4 and 4.10, respectively) and compare them with the efficiencies of a conventional interrupt-based I/O path. In addition, we revisit the common expectations of SPDK by examining all the system resources and parameters. Finally, we demonstrate the challenges of ULL SSDs in a real SPDK-enabled server-client system. Based on the performance behaviors that this study uncovers, we also discuss several system implications, which are required to take a full advantage of ULL SSD in the future.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	Emerging storage systems with new flash exhibit ultra-low latency (ULL) that can address performance disparities between DRAM and conventional solid state drives (SSDs) in the memory hierarchy.	background 1.00	0.07	0.04	asserted 0.67
s1	Considering the advanced low-latency characteristics, different types of I/O completion methods (polling/hybrid) and storage stack architecture (SPDK) are proposed.	background 0.78	0.25	0.03	asserted 0.91
s2	While these new techniques are expected to take costly software interventions off the critical path in ULL-applied systems, unfortunately no study exists to quantitatively analyze system-level characteristics and challenges of combining such newly-introduced techniques with real ULL SSDs.	gap 1.00	0.05	0.05	asserted 0.81
s3	In this work, we comprehensively perform empirical evaluations with 800GB ULL SSD prototypes and characterize ULL behaviors by considering a wide range of I/O path parameters, such as different queues and access patterns.	method 0.55	0.97	0.06	asserted 1.00
s4	We then analyze the efficiencies and challenges of the polled-mode and hybrid polling I/O completion methods (added into Linux kernels 4.4 and 4.10, respectively) and compare them with the efficiencies of a conventional interrupt-based I/O path.	method 0.57	0.92	0.07	asserted 0.97
s5	In addition, we revisit the common expectations of SPDK by examining all the system resources and parameters.	contribution 0.55	0.85	0.03	asserted 0.80
s6	Finally, we demonstrate the challenges of ULL SSDs in a real SPDK-enabled server-client system.	contribution 0.75	0.95	0.09	asserted 1.00
s7	Based on the performance behaviors that this study uncovers, we also discuss several system implications, which are required to take a full advantage of ULL SSD in the future.	interpretation 0.74	0.76	0.36	asserted 0.70

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: empirical study 1.00 · evidence from observation or experiment 1.00.

What was examined, and what was not

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arXiv listing abstract v1

not examined

full text
figures and tables
references and citing sentences
relations to other papers

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P abstract

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S sections
T body sentences
C citations
R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper

Original abstract

Emerging storage systems with new flash exhibit ultra-low latency (ULL) that can address performance disparities between DRAM and conventional solid state drives (SSDs) in the memory hierarchy. Considering the advanced low-latency characteristics, different types of I/O completion methods (polling/hybrid) and storage stack architecture (SPDK) are proposed. While these new techniques are expected to take costly software interventions off the critical path in ULL-applied systems, unfortunately no study exists to quantitatively analyze system-level characteristics and challenges of combining such newly-introduced techniques with real ULL SSDs. In this work, we comprehensively perform empirical evaluations with 800GB ULL SSD prototypes and characterize ULL behaviors by considering a wide range of I/O path parameters, such as different queues and access patterns. We then analyze the efficiencies and challenges of the polled-mode and hybrid polling I/O completion methods (added into Linux kernels 4.4 and 4.10, respectively) and compare them with the efficiencies of a conventional interrupt-based I/O path. In addition, we revisit the common expectations of SPDK by examining all the system resources and parameters. Finally, we demonstrate the challenges of ULL SSDs in a real SPDK-enabled server-client system. Based on the performance behaviors that this study uncovers, we also discuss several system implications, which are required to take a full advantage of ULL SSD in the future.

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