A New Virtual Disk Mapping Method for the Cloud Desktop Storage Client

[Abstract] Integration of the cloud desktop and cloud storage platform is urgent for enterprises. However, current proposals for cloud disk are not satisfactory in terms of the decoupling of virtual computing and business data storage in the cloud desktop environment. In this paper, we present a new virtual disk mapping method for cloud desktop storage. In Windows, compared with virtual hard disk method of popular cloud disks, the proposed implementation of client based on the virtual disk driver and the file system filter driver is available for widespread desktop environments, especially for the cloud desktop with limited storage resources. Furthermore, our method supports customizable local cache storage, resulting in user⁃friendly experience for thin⁃clients of the cloud desktop. The evaluation results show that our virtual disk mapping method performs well in the read⁃write throughput of different scale files.

[Keywords] virtual disk; cloud desktop; file system filter driver; customizable cache storage