OneFS distributed file system explained

OneFS
Full Name:OneFS
Developer:Isilon Systems
Introduction Os:OneFS 1.0 -- based on FreeBSD
Directory Struct:B+ trees
File Struct:B+ trees
Max Filename Size:255 bytes
Max Files No:Cluster size dependent
Max Volume Size:66PB+ (144+ nodes at 470TB+ each);[1] 65535 nodes theoretical limit
Max File Size:16TB
Max Directory Depth:509 (suggested, to fit within PATH_MAX of 1023)
Dates Recorded:Create time, rename time, mtime, ctime, atime
Date Range:1970 to 2038
Date Resolution:Nanosecond
Forks Streams:Yes (extended attributes and Alternate Data Streams)
File System Permissions:Yes (POSIX permissions and NTFS ACLs)
Compression:Yes[2]
Encryption:Integrated with Self-encrypting Drives for encryption of "data at rest"
Data Deduplication:Offline only
Os:OneFS
Filename Character Set:Many (UTF-8, EUC-JP, CP932, CP1252, ISO-8859-*, EUC-KR, CP949).
Copy On Write:Yes (for snapshots)

The OneFS File System is a parallel distributed networked file system designed by Isilon Systems and is the basis for the Isilon Scale-out Storage Platform. The OneFS file system is controlled and managed by the OneFS Operating System, a FreeBSD variant.

On-disk Structure

All data structures in the OneFS file system maintain their own protection information. This means in the same filesystem, one file may be protected at +1 (basic parity protection) while another may be protected at +4 (resilient to four failures) while yet another file may be protected at 2x (mirroring); this feature is referred to as FlexProtect.[3] FlexProtect is also responsible for automatically rebuilding the data in the event of a failure. The protection levels available are based on the number of nodes in the cluster and follow the Reed Solomon Algorithm. Blocks for an individual file are spread across the nodes. This allows entire nodes to fail without losing access to any data. File metadata, directories, snapshot structures, quotas structures, and a logical inode mapping structure are all based on mirrored B+ trees. Block addresses are generalized 64-bit pointers that reference (node, drive, blknum) tuples. The native block size is 8192 bytes; inodes are 512 bytes on disk (for disks with 512 byte sectors) or 8KB (for disks with 4KB sectors).

One distinctive characteristic of OneFS is that metadata is spread throughout the nodes in a homogeneous fashion. There are no dedicated metadata servers. The only piece of metadata that is replicated on every node is the address list of root btree blocks of the inode mapping structure. Everything else can be found from that starting point, following the generalized 64-bit pointers.

Clustering

The collection of computer hosts that comprise a OneFS System is referred to as a "cluster".A computer host that is a member of a OneFS cluster is referred to as a "node" (plural "nodes").

The nodes that comprise a OneFS System must be connected by a high performance, low-latency back-end network for optimal performance. OneFS 1.0-3.0 used Gigabit Ethernet as that back-end network. Starting with OneFS 3.5, Isilon offered InfiniBand models. From about 2007 until mid-2018, all nodes sold utilized an InfiniBand back-end. Starting with OneFS 8.1.0 and Gen6 models, Isilon again offers Ethernet back-end network (10, 25, 40, or 100 Gigabit).[4]

Data, metadata, locking, transaction, group management, allocation, and event traffic are communicated using an RPC mechanism traveling over the back-end network of the OneFS cluster. All data and metadata transfers are zero-copy. All modification operations to on-disk structures are transactional and journaled.

Protocols

OneFS supports accessing stored files using common computer network protocols including NFS, CIFS/SMB, FTP, HTTP, and HDFS. It can utilize non-local authentication such as Active Directory, LDAP, and NIS. It is capable of interfacing with external backup devices and applications that use NDMP protocol.[5]

OneFS Operating System

The OneFS File System is a proprietary file system that can only be managed and controlled by the FreeBSD-derived OneFS Operating System.[5]

zsh is the default login shell of the OneFS Operating System. OneFS presents a specialized command set to administer the OneFS File System.[6] Most specialized shell programs start with letters isi. Notable exceptions are the Isilon extensions to the FreeBSD ls and chmod programs.[7]

Versions

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Isilon OneFS and IsilonSD Edge: Technical Specifications Guide. June 2018 . Dell Inc..
  2. Web site: Dell EMC Launches All-Flash Isilon F810 . 12 February 2019 . Flying Pig Ventures . Adam Armstrong .
  3. http://isilon.custhelp.com/ci/fattach/get/494/1313000035/redirect/1 "Data Protection and Backup"
  4. Web site: Isilon Gen6 Performance . Dell Inc..
  5. Web site: Dell EMC Isilon OneFS Operating System - Powering the Isilon Scale-out Storage Platform . Dell Inc.. February 2019 . 9.0.
  6. Web site: OneFS Command Line Reference".
  7. Web site: Isilon OneFS Authentication, Identity Management, & Authorization - Multiprotocol Data Access with a Unified Security Model . Dell EMC . November 2018 . Aqib Kazi.
  8. Determined by the __FreeBSD_version definition in /usr/include/sys/param.h. See FreeBSD Porter's Handbook for more information.
  9. Book: FreeBSD Porter's Handbook . 18 . The FreeBSD Documentation Project . 1 December 2011.
  10. Web site: EMC Isilon OneFS 7.0: Converging Big Data and The Enterprise . 16 November 2012 . 18 January 2013 . Mona . Patel . EMC Big Data Blog . 12 February 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130212203504/http://bigdatablog.emc.com/2012/11/16/emc-isilon-onefs-7-0-converging-big-data-and-the-enterprise/ . dead .
  11. Web site: Isilon OneFS 7.1 Big Data Scale Out Storage Is Finally Here! . 30 October 2013 . 30 October 2013 . Sam . Grocott . EMC Pulse Blog.
  12. Web site: "Happy launch, @EMCIsilon! 2 fantastic new platforms, flash as cache, new HDFS, and performance galore on OneFS 7.1.1 "Jaws!" Way to go team!" . 8 July 2014 . 2 September 2014 . Carolyn . Hughes . @carolyn_hugs Twitter.
  13. Web site: OneFS 7.2.x Release. Dell Inc. . 31 October 2014 .
  14. Web site: Announcing OneFS 8.0.0 . Risa . Galant . 1 February 2016 .
  15. Web site: Announcing Isilon OneFS 8.0.1 . David . Noy . 25 October 2016 .
  16. Web site: Dell EMC Announces the Release of Isilon Generation 6 Platform and OneFS 8.1 . Todd . Jolley . 21 June 2017 . Dell Inc..
  17. Web site: OneFS 8.1.1.0 and Cloudera CDH 5.13+ Support for Cloudera Navigator . Russ . Stevenson . 29 January 2018 .
  18. Web site: Isilon OneFS Version 8.1.1 Release Notes . 1 January 2018 . Dell Inc. .
  19. Web site: OneFS 8.1.2 Documentation - Isilon Info Hub . 3 August 2018 . Dell Inc..
  20. Web site: OneFS 8.2.0 Release Notes . 3 May 2019 . Dell Inc..
  21. Web site: OneFS 8.2.1 Release Notes . 6 September 2019 . Dell.
  22. Web site: OneFS 8.2.2 Release Notes . 16 January 2020 . Dell.
  23. Web site: Dell Technologies' PowerScale OneFS 9.1 Released . Juan . Mulford . 2020-10-08 . Storage Review .
  24. Web site: Dell PowerScale OneFS: Release Contents . January 2023 . Nick . Trimbee . Dell Inc. .
  25. Web site: PowerScale OneFS 9.6.x.x. Release Notes . May 2023 . Dell Inc. .
  26. Web site: PowerScale OneFS 9.7 . 2023-12-13 . Nick . Trimbee .