diff --git a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
index 76b3a22..719ec37 100644
--- a/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
+++ b/asterix-app/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/api/common/AsterixAppRuntimeContext.java
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.AsterixTransactionProperties;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.config.IAsterixPropertiesProvider;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.context.AsterixFileMapManager;
-import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.context.ConstantMergePolicy;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.context.DatasetLifecycleManager;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.context.PrefixMergePolicy;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.exceptions.ACIDException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.transactions.IAsterixAppRuntimeContextProvider;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.common.transactions.ITransactionSubsystem;
+import edu.uci.ics.asterix.metadata.bootstrap.MetadataPrimaryIndexes;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.transaction.management.resource.PersistentLocalResourceRepository;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.transaction.management.resource.PersistentLocalResourceRepositoryFactory;
 import edu.uci.ics.asterix.transaction.management.service.transaction.TransactionSubsystem;
@@ -118,8 +118,9 @@
         localResourceRepository = (PersistentLocalResourceRepository) persistentLocalResourceRepositoryFactory
                 .createRepository();
         resourceIdFactory = (new ResourceIdFactoryProvider(localResourceRepository)).createResourceIdFactory();
-        indexLifecycleManager = new DatasetLifecycleManager(storageProperties, localResourceRepository);
-        IAsterixAppRuntimeContextProvider asterixAppRuntimeContextProvider = new AsterixAppRuntimeContextProviderForRecovery(
+        indexLifecycleManager = new DatasetLifecycleManager(storageProperties, localResourceRepository,
+                MetadataPrimaryIndexes.FIRST_AVAILABLE_USER_DATASET_ID);
+        IAsterixAppRuntimeContextProvider asterixAppRuntimeContextProvider = new AsterixAppRuntimeContextProdiverForRecovery(
                 this);
         txnSubsystem = new TransactionSubsystem(ncApplicationContext.getNodeId(), asterixAppRuntimeContextProvider,
                 txnProperties);
diff --git a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixStorageProperties.java b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixStorageProperties.java
index d7ff15d..74c3bb1 100644
--- a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixStorageProperties.java
+++ b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/config/AsterixStorageProperties.java
@@ -17,19 +17,22 @@
 public class AsterixStorageProperties extends AbstractAsterixProperties {
 
     private static final String STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_PAGESIZE_KEY = "storage.buffercache.pagesize";
-    private static int STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_PAGESIZE_DEFAULT = (32 << 10); // 32KB
+    private static int STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_PAGESIZE_DEFAULT = (128 << 10); // 128KB
 
     private static final String STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_SIZE_KEY = "storage.buffercache.size";
-    private static final long STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_SIZE_DEFAULT = (32 << 20); // 32 MB
+    private static final long STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_SIZE_DEFAULT = (512 << 20); // 512 MB
 
     private static final String STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_MAXOPENFILES_KEY = "storage.buffercache.maxopenfiles";
     private static int STORAGE_BUFFERCACHE_MAXOPENFILES_DEFAULT = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
 
     private static final String STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_PAGESIZE_KEY = "storage.memorycomponent.pagesize";
-    private static final int STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_PAGESIZE_DEFAULT = (32 << 10); // 32KB
+    private static final int STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_PAGESIZE_DEFAULT = (128 << 10); // 128KB
 
     private static final String STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMPAGES_KEY = "storage.memorycomponent.numpages";
-    private static final int STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMPAGES_DEFAULT = 1024; // ... so 32MB components
+    private static final int STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMPAGES_DEFAULT = 256; // ... so 32MB components
+
+    private static final String STORAGE_METADATA_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMPAGES_KEY = "storage.metadata.memorycomponent.numpages";
+    private static final int STORAGE_METADATA_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMPAGES_DEFAULT = 256; // ... so 32MB components
 
     private static final String STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMCOMPONENTS_KEY = "storage.memorycomponent.numcomponents";
     private static final int STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMCOMPONENTS_DEFAULT = 2; // 2 components
@@ -76,6 +79,13 @@
                 PropertyInterpreters.getIntegerPropertyInterpreter());
     }
 
+    public int getMetadataMemoryComponentNumPages() {
+        return accessor
+                .getProperty(STORAGE_METADATA_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMPAGES_KEY,
+                        STORAGE_METADATA_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMPAGES_DEFAULT,
+                        PropertyInterpreters.getIntegerPropertyInterpreter());
+    }
+
     public int getMemoryComponentsNum() {
         return accessor.getProperty(STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMCOMPONENTS_KEY,
                 STORAGE_MEMORYCOMPONENT_NUMCOMPONENTS_DEFAULT, PropertyInterpreters.getIntegerPropertyInterpreter());
@@ -95,4 +105,4 @@
         return accessor.getProperty(STORAGE_LSM_BLOOMFILTER_FALSEPOSITIVERATE_KEY,
                 STORAGE_LSM_BLOOMFILTER_FALSEPOSITIVERATE_DEFAULT, PropertyInterpreters.getDoublePropertyInterpreter());
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/DatasetLifecycleManager.java b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/DatasetLifecycleManager.java
index 617b6ff..265188e 100644
--- a/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/DatasetLifecycleManager.java
+++ b/asterix-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/asterix/common/context/DatasetLifecycleManager.java
@@ -48,13 +48,15 @@
     private final Map<Integer, ILSMOperationTracker> datasetOpTrackers;
     private final Map<Integer, DatasetInfo> datasetInfos;
     private final ILocalResourceRepository resourceRepository;
+    private final int firstAvilableUserDatasetID;
     private final long capacity;
     private long used;
 
     public DatasetLifecycleManager(AsterixStorageProperties storageProperties,
-            ILocalResourceRepository resourceRepository) {
+            ILocalResourceRepository resourceRepository, int firstAvilableUserDatasetID) {
         this.storageProperties = storageProperties;
         this.resourceRepository = resourceRepository;
+        this.firstAvilableUserDatasetID = firstAvilableUserDatasetID;
         datasetVirtualBufferCaches = new HashMap<Integer, List<IVirtualBufferCache>>();
         datasetOpTrackers = new HashMap<Integer, ILSMOperationTracker>();
         datasetInfos = new HashMap<Integer, DatasetInfo>();
@@ -298,12 +300,12 @@
             List<IVirtualBufferCache> vbcs = datasetVirtualBufferCaches.get(datasetID);
             if (vbcs == null) {
                 vbcs = new ArrayList<IVirtualBufferCache>();
+                int numPages = datasetID < firstAvilableUserDatasetID ? storageProperties
+                        .getMetadataMemoryComponentNumPages() : storageProperties.getMemoryComponentNumPages();
                 for (int i = 0; i < storageProperties.getMemoryComponentsNum(); i++) {
-                    MultitenantVirtualBufferCache vbc = new MultitenantVirtualBufferCache(
-                            new VirtualBufferCache(new HeapBufferAllocator(),
-                                    storageProperties.getMemoryComponentPageSize(),
-                                    storageProperties.getMemoryComponentNumPages()
-                                            / storageProperties.getMemoryComponentsNum()));
+                    MultitenantVirtualBufferCache vbc = new MultitenantVirtualBufferCache(new VirtualBufferCache(
+                            new HeapBufferAllocator(), storageProperties.getMemoryComponentPageSize(), numPages
+                                    / storageProperties.getMemoryComponentsNum()));
                     vbcs.add(vbc);
                 }
                 datasetVirtualBufferCaches.put(datasetID, vbcs);
diff --git a/asterix-installer/src/main/resources/conf/asterix-configuration.xml b/asterix-installer/src/main/resources/conf/asterix-configuration.xml
index 084a3f8..c74f1d6 100644
--- a/asterix-installer/src/main/resources/conf/asterix-configuration.xml
+++ b/asterix-installer/src/main/resources/conf/asterix-configuration.xml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 	<property>
 		<name>nc.java.opts</name>
-		<value>-Xmx1024m</value>
+		<value>-Xmx1536m</value>
 		<description>JVM parameters for each Node Contoller (NC)</description>
 	</property>
 
@@ -29,18 +29,18 @@
 
 	<property>
 		<name>storage.buffercache.pagesize</name>
-		<value>32768</value>
+		<value>131072</value>
 		<description>The page size in bytes for pages in the buffer cache.
-			(Default = "32768" // 32KB)
+			(Default = "131072" // 128KB)
 		</description>
 	</property>
 
 	<property>
 		<name>storage.buffercache.size</name>
-		<value>33554432</value>
+		<value>536870912</value>
 		<description>The size of memory allocated to the disk buffer cache.
 			The value should be a multiple of the buffer cache page size(Default
-			= "33554432" // 32MB)
+			= "536870912" // 512MB)
 		</description>
 	</property>
 
@@ -54,17 +54,25 @@
 
 	<property>
 		<name>storage.memorycomponent.pagesize</name>
-		<value>32768</value>
+		<value>131072</value>
 		<description>The page size in bytes for pages allocated to memory
-			components. (Default = "32768" // 32KB)
+			components. (Default = "131072" // 128KB)
 		</description>
 	</property>
 
 	<property>
 		<name>storage.memorycomponent.numpages</name>
-		<value>1024</value>
+		<value>256</value>
 		<description>The number of pages to allocate for a memory component.
-			(Default = 1024)
+			(Default = 256)
+		</description>
+	</property>
+	
+	<property>
+		<name>storage.metadata.memorycomponent.numpages</name>
+		<value>64</value>
+		<description>The number of pages to allocate for a memory component.
+			(Default = 64)
 		</description>
 	</property>
 
@@ -100,7 +108,7 @@
 			filters associated with LSM indexes. (Default = "0.01" // 1%)
 		</description>
 	</property>
-
+	
 	<property>
 		<name>txn.log.buffer.numpages</name>
 		<value>8</value>
@@ -110,9 +118,9 @@
 
 	<property>
 		<name>txn.log.buffer.pagesize</name>
-		<value>131072</value>
+		<value>524288</value>
 		<description>The size of pages in the in-memory log buffer. (Default =
-			"131072" // 128KB)
+			"524288" // 512KB)
 		</description>
 	</property>
 
@@ -201,9 +209,9 @@
 
 	<property>
 		<name>compiler.framesize</name>
-		<value>32768</value>
+		<value>131072</value>
 		<description>The Hyracks frame size that the compiler configures per
-			job. (Default = "32768" // 32KB)
+			job. (Default = "131072" // 128KB)
 		</description>
 	</property>