Date of Award

1994

Degree Name

M.S. in Management Science

Abstract

With the vast amounts of data being collected, analyzed and stored for today’s information highway, the type and quantity of computer equipment storage media has become critical to the cost of operating a computer data service center. Processor storage is obviously the most desirable medium from a performance perspective, however, it is also the most costly. The other extreme is off-line storage such as a tape cartridge system, which is the most inexpensive method but leaves much to be desired with respect to user response time. A reasonable alternative is DASD. In fact, in many installations the “DASD farm” is comparable in cost to the Central Processing Unit (CPU) configuration. The Department of Defense (DOD) is in the process of reducing costs and improving productivity by migrating and consolidating existing application software onto state-of-the-art computer hardware. Under contracts like that resulting from Defense Management Report Decision (DMRD) Number 924, the DOD is creating a reduced number of data processing service centers, redefining them as Defense Megacenters (DMCs). This effort has provided savings to the Government by reducing floor space, electrical power, and cooling requirements. Integral to this effort is the Government’s attempt to optimize the hardware data storage configurations required to support its users. Through simulation modeling, the DMC manager can analyze alternative configurations without actually incurring the associated expense. They can answer questions such as at what point will the existing DASD configuration exceed capacity limits? What are the costs associated with sharing DASD? How will specific applications affect DASD performance? The simulation effort discussed in this paper describes an approach taken to model the DASD subsystem. A model was built using the SLAM simulation language and validated with data collected from the DMC located at Dayton, Ohio. Various simulations were run to illustrate how the DMC manager would use the model to address the questions pertaining to current and future DASD configurations

Keywords

Operations research Computer simulation, Digital computer simulation, Computers Access control, Computer security

Rights Statement

Copyright © 1994, author

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