#08. Francesco Lacapra - A distributed file system built for scalability

Program
6:30-7:00 - Networking
7:00-7:30 - A distributed file system built for scalability
7:30-8:00 - Q&A and Discussion

Presentation by Francesco Lacapra, Peaxy, Inc.

This talk presents the design of a distributed file system, capable of growing indefinitely while being able to scale over a growing number of commodity servers, implementing a single hierarchical namespace.

The architectural goals entail:

• Optimizing the design to exploit the characteristics of modern hardware.

• Allowing the aggregation of servers form different vendors and with different form factors and physical attributes.

• Allowing the optimal placement of files on the basis of cost/performance metrics.

• Offering longevity that far exceeds that of the individual servers.

• Not requiring ad hoc APIs to be invoked by applications so that they would run without any changes.

• This architecture is now being deployed at multiple sites and is proving its ability to fulfill its stated goals.

A description of the key concepts the architecture relies on is provided, along with comparisons with other distributed file systems designs available in the market, to illustrate the substantial advances this architecture offers.