Described are techniques for processing a data operation in a data storage system. A front-end component of the data storage system receives the data operation. In response to receiving the data operation, the front-end component performs first processing. The first processing includes determining whether the data operation is a read operation requesting to read a data portion which results in a cache miss; and if said determining determines that the data operation is a read operation resulting in a cache miss, performing read miss processing. Read miss processing includes sequential stream recognition processing performed by the front-end component to determine whether the data portion is included in a sequential stream.