Artificial load generation for xcache and reduction of application write delay

Two recent software development projects are described: The first is a framework for generating load for an xrootd based disk caching proxy (known as xcache) and verifying the generated data as delivered by the cache. The second is a service to reduce the effect of network latency on application execution time due to writing files to remote storage via the xrootd protocol. For both projects the problem, requirements and design considerations will be explained. The implementation will be covered.