Composable Storage Servers: A Storage Paradigm for Disaggregated Systems

Disaggregated and composable data centers optimize resource allocation and mitigate overprovisioning through dynamic resource management. While significant research has concentrated on disaggregating components and composing compute servers, the application of these principles to storage servers within disaggregated data centers remains underexplored. Traditional storage servers are often overprovisioned to accommodate a wide range of scenarios and workloads, resulting in designs that conflict with the principles of composable data centers, which prioritize efficiency by minimizing resource over-provisioning across components. This paper presents the concept of Composable Storage Servers, a design approach for storage solutions within disaggregated data centers. By applying the principles of resource disaggregation, this approach mitigates the overprovisioning of resources in storage servers. Central to this vision is the Core Storage Node, which integrates essential storage functionalities into a unified component, consistent with composable infrastructure principles. Our prototype and real-world deployment of the core storage node show its effectiveness at substituting local SSDs, achieving a 30% reduction in storage costs.