Data Placement Optimization for ATLAS in a Multi-Tiered Storage System within a Data Center

¹ Brookhaven National Laboratory, 98 Rochester St, Upton, NY, US, 11973
² Stony Brook University, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook, NY, US, 11794

^* e-mail: qhuang@bnl.gov

Published online: 7 October 2025

Abstract

Scientific experiments and computations, especially in High Energy Physics, are generating and accumulating data at an unprecedented rate. Effectively managing this vast volume of data while ensuring efficient data analysis poses a significant challenge for data centers, which must integrate various storage technologies. This paper proposes addressing this challenge by designing and developing a precise data popularity prediction model utilizing state-of-theart AI/ML techniques. This model is crafted from the analysis of ATLAS data and access patterns. It enables us to migrate infrequently accessed data to more economical storage media, such as tape drives, while storing frequently accessed data on faster yet costlier storage media like HDD or SSD. This strategic approach ensures data is placed optimally into the appropriate storage classes, thereby maximizing storage capacity while minimizing data access latency for end-users. Furthermore, the paper includes a performance evaluation of the prediction model using various key metrics such as F1 score, accuracy, precision and recall. Finally, we present a prototype use case, leveraging real-world file access data to assess the model’s impact on performance.