Key-Value Stores on Flash Storage Devices: A Survey

Abstract: Key-value stores (KV) have become one of the main components of the modern storage and data processing system stack. With the increasing need for timely data analysis, performance becomes more and more critical. In the past, these stores were frequently optimised to run on HDD and DRAM devices. However, the last decade saw an increased interest in the use of flash devices because of their attractive properties. Flash is cheaper than DRAM and yet has a lower latency and higher throughput than HDDs. This literature survey aims to highlight the changes proposed in the last decade to optimise key-value stores for flash devices and predict what role these devices might play for key-value stores in the future.