A dual-ascent procedure for the file allocation and join site selection problem on a telecommunications network

In this paper, a model and a solution procedure is developed for the File Allocation and Join Site Selection Problem with 2-way Join, defined on a telecommunications network. This problem attempts to integrate the file allocation and query optimization aspects of a distributed computing system. By allowing for queries that require processing up to two file types, this problem is designed to determine simultaneously the number and location of file types and the location of join operations. This problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear program, for which a fast dual-ascent approximation procedure is developed. Extensive computational results are presented which demonstrate that our dual-ascent procedure is able to solve even large-scale problems to near optimality quickly.