Details

XtreemFS - an object-based file system for large-scale federated IT infrastructures

von Felix Hupfeld (Zuse Institute Berlin), Erich Focht (NEC HPC Europe)

Mittwoch, 30.05.2007, Saal 4: Kaiserslautern , 16:00-17:00 Uhr

Object-based storage is well suited to large-scale distributed file systems, as it avoids any bottleneck in the file I/O path by separating file metadata from file contents. Current object-based file systems were designed with centralized data centers in mind, however, and include only rudimentary replication mechanisms if they support replication at all. For multi-site and potentially multi-organization installations, centralization severely limits the availability of the file system in the presence of network failures and slows performance over WAN links. The XtreemFS project, funded by the EU, addresses these issues by supporting replication of both file metadata and file objects over WAN connections spanning multiple administration domains while still providing a POSIX file interface. In addition, metadata and objects can be striped/partitioned over multiple servers for high-performance parallel access using commodity hardware. In this presentation we will describe the architectural requirements for extending object-based storage to federated installations, discuss the issues that arise when replicating file data and metadata over WAN connections, and give an overview of the XtreemFS implementation and protocols.

Über den Autor Felix Hupfeld:

Felix Hupfeld studied computer science at the University of Karlsruhe where he also worked in the L4 microkernel group on networking aspects of the Sawmill Linux multi-server operating system. Since 2002 he works for the Zuse Institute Berlin as a Ph.D. student on StorageBox, a replicated personal information manager and serves lately as the work package manager for the XtreemFS file system, which is being developed in context of the XtreemOS project, funded by the European Union.

Über den Autor Erich Focht:

- studied physics at the RWTH Aachen
- PhD work in theoretical Physics (computational methods) at RWTH Aachen and von Neumann Institute for Computing (NIC) Juelich
- started to work for NEC as Application Analyst in 1996, tuning of numerical algorithms and CAE simulation codes for parallel vector supercomputers
- worked as Linux kernel developer for IA64 and NUMA systems, involved in ATLAS64 and LSE projects aiming at scalability of Linux on large systems
- currently working as solution architect, doing research and development for cluster and grid software
- open source projects involvement: OSCAR (currently chair), SystemImager, SystemInstaller, SystemConfigurator, Ganglia, Kerrighed SSI