Towards a cost model for distributed and replicated data stores

Large, Petabyte-scale data stores need detailed design considerations about distributing and replicating particular parts of the data store in a cost-effective way. Technical issues need to be analysed and, based on these constraints, an optimisation problem can be formulated. In this paper we provide a novel cost model for building a world-wide distributed Petabyte data store which will be in place starting from 2005 at CERN and its collaborating, world-wide distributed institutes. We elaborate on a framework for assessing potential system costs and influences which are essential for the design of the data store