#152 - Global File System Concepts

This week, Chris and Martin are joined by Douglas Fallstrom, SVP Product & Operations at Hammerspace, as the conversation on global file systems continues. Hammerspace has developed a global file system platform that caters for geographic data dispersion and sits above traditional storage.

In this podcast episode, Douglas explains some of the challenges of stretching data over distance – typically latency and getting effective throughput. When metadata and data are abstracted in a file system, these issues can be mitigated – global data sharing doesn’t imply a need for global locking. This separation of the control and data planes is probably the most important takeaway from this episode and one we’re likely to see replicated across the storage industry.

You can learn more about Hammerspace at https://hammerspace.com/ or follow them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hammerspace_inc. Alternatively, wait a couple of weeks and we’ll have a more detailed interview with Douglas that digs into the product a bit more.

Oh and if you’re wondering about the name – here’s where it comes from – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerspace

Elapsed Time: 00:33:26

Timeline

00:00:00 – Intros
00:02:10 – Quick introduction to Hammerspace
00:03:45 – Are global and parallel file systems different?
00:07:00 – Global file systems allow “stretching” of data to global locations
00:08:15 – Data consistency across locations is really important
00:09:35 – Data copying can change or delete ACLs from data
00:10:30 – What are the use-cases for global file systems?
00:14:00 – Global sharing doesn’t imply or need global locking
00:19:00 – With metadata, data can appear to be present without physically being there
00:23:00 – Many data sources only change portions of file content
00:26:30 – How does AI or ML allow physical data to be better managed?
00:31:30 – Should we be moving file/object and away from block storage?
00:32:45 – Wrap Up

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