Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Linux kernel 2.6.34 introduces new filesystems

Linus Torvalds announced this week the official release of version 2.6.34 of the Linux kernel. The update introduces two new filesystems and brings a number of other technical improvements and bug fixes.

One of the most significant additions are two filesystems called Ceph and Logfs

Ceph is a distributed network filesystem. It is built from the ground up to seamlessly and gracefully scale from gigabytes to petabytes and beyond. Scalability is considered in terms of workload as well as total storage. Ceph is designed to handle workloads in which tens thousands of clients or more simultaneously access the same file, or write to the same directory–usage scenarios that bring typical enterprise storage systems to their knees.

Some of the key features that make Ceph different from existing file systems:

* Seamless scaling: A Ceph filesystem can be seamlessly expanded by simply adding storage nodes (OSDs), and proactively migrates data onto new devices in order to maintain a balanced distribution of data.
* Strong reliability and fast recovery: All data in Ceph is replicated across multiple OSDs. If any OSD fails, data is automatically re-replicated to other devices.
* Adaptive MDS: The Ceph metadata server (MDS) is designed to dynamically adapt its behavior to the current workload. As the size and popularity of the file system hierarchy changes over time, that hierarchy is dynamically redistributed among available metadata servers in order to balance load and most effectively use server resources. Similarly, if thousands of clients suddenly access a single file or directory, that metadata is dynamically replicated across multiple servers to distribute the workload.

Project web site: ceph.newdream.net


LogFS is a filesystem designed for storage devices based on flash memory (SDD hard disks, USB sticks, etc). It is aimed to scale efficiently to large devices. In comparison to JFFS2, it offers significantly faster mount times and potentially less RAM usage. In its current state it is still experimental.

Project web site: www.logfs.org

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