File Systems and File Management

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The Abstracts

Tiered File System Without Tiers
Laura Shepard
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File systems have evolved considerably, yet the vast majority of them are still a simple organizational layer on top of a block device. As the sheer amount of data scales in an organization, it becomes absolutely critical that file systems evolve as well. This presentation focuses on a modern file system which include native tiering capabilities, native per-file performance and protection capabilities, and advanced scalability.

Learning Objectives

Discuss the challenges facing IT administrators as they cope with a deluge of data, much of which requires different performance, protection, and retention characteristics.
How a single file system which includes built-in data classification, per-file data protection and performance attributes, and advanced scalability can significantly speed up applications, decrease management complexity, and drive lower total cost of ownership.

Scale and Availability Considerations for Cluster File Systems
David Noy
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Cluster file systems are becoming increasingly common inside data centers due to the proliferation of scalable NAS solutions built on top of shared file systems and the continued emergence of scale out grid compute applications to take advantage of commodity hardware. Building a cluster to meet the stringent demands of these types of applications requires careful consideration, both to the design and implementation as well as to the scalability and availability of the software stack providing shared file services. This session aims to delineate: 1. Common applications and workloads which can benefit from a cluster file system 2. Technical considerations for selecting a cluster file system 3. Best practices for tuning a cluster file system.

Learning Objectives

Common applications and workloads which can benefit from a cluster file system
Technical considerations for selecting a cluster file system
Best practices for tuning a cluster file system

File System for Data Protection
Windsor Hsu
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There is a strong industry trend to adopt disk-based platforms for data protection. But not all such systems were designed to satisfy the requirements for data protection. This tutorial will explain some of the differences between a general purpose file system and a file system designed for data protection. It will establish the requirements for a file system to be the storage of last resort. It will also survey some of the techniques that can be used to satisfy these requirements, and identify important considerations for these techniques. At the end of the tutorial, the participants should 1) appreciate that a file system targeted at data protection has unique requirements; 2) understand at an overview level the different techniques that may be employed to satisfy these requirements and the operational implications of the various techniques; and 3) become equipped to make informed decisions about selecting a file system for data protection.

Learning Objectives

Appreciate that a file system targeted at data protection has unique requirements.
Understand at an overview level the different techniques that may be employed to satisfy these requirements and the operational implications of the various techniques.
Become equipped to make informed decisions about selecting a file system for data protection

Effective Use of Filesystem Technologies to Support Secure Server Virtualization (Cancelled, pending replacement)
Steve Pate, Tushar Tambay
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Abstract

Learning Objectives

The File Systems Evolution
Christian Bandulet
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File Systems impose structure on the address space of one or more physical or virtual devices. Starting with local file systems over time additional file systems appeared focusing on specialized requirements such as data sharing, remote file access, distributed file access, parallel files access, HPC, archiving, security etc.. Due to the dramatic growth of unstructured data files as the basic units for data containers are morphing into file objects providing more semantics and feature-rich capabilities for content processing. This presentation will categorize and explain the basic principles of currently available file systems (e.g. local FS, shared FS, SAN FS, clustered FS, network FS, distributed FS, parallel FS, object FS, ...). It will also explain technologies like NAS aggregation, NAS clustering, scalable NFS, global namespace, parallel NFS, storage grids and cloud storage. All of these file system categories are complementary. They will be enhanced in parallel with additional value added functionality. New file system architectures will be developed and some of them will be blended in the future.

Learning Objectives

Understand the basic principles of different files system architectures
Understand how file systems evolved over time
Being prepared to discuss, position and recommend the most appropriate file system for a customer solution

NAS Storage Management Best Practices and Tips
Dave Anjan
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The non-stop growth in the amount of information generated and stored today presents a significant challenge in storing the data and managing the associated storage infrastructure. This tutorial presents some of the challenges in file storage management, and provides some best practices and tips that apply to managing medium and large sized Network Attached Storage based environments. This tutorial also provides some practical tips for managing block-based storage for business critical applications and databases.

Learning Objectives

Learn how to plan the purchase and deployment of NAS storage in a large enterprise environment from storage capacity, performance and backups perspective
Consider the challenges and influencing factors in managing large amounts of unstructured (file) data, and present some practical Dos and Don'ts
Methodologies to adopt for deploying block-storage for business critical applications for structured data