Sui announces the Tidehunter database to achieve low latency reduction

The blockchain project Sui has released a new database called Tidehunter to address performance bottlenecks in modern SSD environments. According to Foresight News, this solution significantly improves read and write performance, especially designed to minimize contention during write operations.

Fast Write Processing with Lock-Free WAL

The key feature of Tidehunter is its implementation of a lock-free write-ahead log (WAL). Instead of traditional system call methods, it utilizes writable memory-mapped files, enabling throughput capable of handling millions of write operations per second. This innovative approach maximizes SSD performance while keeping contention to a minimum.

Asynchronous Persistence Management and Memory-Mapped Files

Data persistence is managed by dedicated background threads. By performing file expansion management and periodic synchronization asynchronously, it removes processing load from the critical path. Using memory-mapped files allows for more efficient memory utilization and data persistence compared to conventional direct I/O operations.

Latency Reduction Techniques for Reads

Improving read performance is also a key design focus. Tidehunter employs a dedicated unified lookup index, significantly reducing latency in the critical path. This optimization enables low-latency read access even with large datasets.

With the advent of Tidehunter, Sui is pursuing optimal performance in the SSD era and paving the way to overcome traditional latency constraints.