File Systems for Object Storage Devices (Spring 2010)

Object-based storage devices (OSDs) may well be the “next big thing” in file-oriented data storage. Already popular in the high-performance computing arena, they are poised to enter more more general enterprise computing environments. By distributing storage management and enabling secure data transfer between storage devices and clients, OSDs promise significant improvements in scaling and administrative simplicity. But making effective use of OSDs requires a new breed of file system—one that makes use of the new devices effectively to deliver the promised benefits. This tutorial will describe the salient properties of OSDs, explain how file system technology is evolving to exploit the scalability and administrative simplicity they offer, identify the mature and emerging segments of the OSD-based file storage market, and show how technology that has been successful in HPC can be beneficially employed in the general data center environment. Standardization activities, notably the parallel NFS (pNFS) protocol for addressing OSDs will be discussed.

Learning Objectives

• Appreciate the advantages of OSDs over conventional disk storage and the environments in which those advantages are meaningful.
• Understand how OSD file systems differ from disk-based file systems.
• Understand the current state of OSD file system maturity and the segments in which they are deployed, and learn how OSD technology and standardization are developing to broaden the appeal of OSDs throughout enterprise computing.