dedotte

Dedotte is a term used in the field of data management to describe a deduplication technique intended for distributed storage systems. In this context, dedotte refers to a scheme that identifies and eliminates duplicate data blocks across multiple datasets, storing a single instance and references to it in place of duplicates. The goal is to reduce storage requirements and improve bandwidth efficiency for backups and archival workflows.

Origin and terminology: The origin of the term dedotte is not clearly documented in standard references. It appears in some research reports and prototype implementations as a portmanteau combining “deduplicate” and a suffix common in technique names.

Principles and operation: Dedotte typically uses content-defined chunking to split inputs into variable-sized blocks, computes fingerprints for blocks, and maintains a global index that maps fingerprints to stored blocks. When a block's fingerprint is already present, a reference is inserted instead of storing a new block. Metadata tracks block provenance, versions, and integrity.

Applications and deployment: It is described in hypothetical or research contexts for cross-dataset deduplication, multi-site backups, cloud archival, and long-term preservation where many copies share common data. Prototypes emphasize integration with existing backup software and storage backends.

Advantages and limitations: Benefits include reduced storage footprint and lower network transfer during replication. Limitations include increased CPU and memory usage for chunking and fingerprinting, potential performance variability, and a small risk of integrity concerns if the reference index becomes corrupted.

See also: data deduplication, content-defined chunking, reference-based storage.

Note: In this article, dedotte is presented as a hypothetical concept for illustrative purposes.