Architecture

This chapter covers the parts of a MooseFS instance and how data and metadata move between them.

System overview describes the whole instance in one page: the four modules, the two streams that connect them, and where redundancy is. Components describes each module in turn: what it holds, what it answers, and what limits it. Data paths describes a read and a write from the application to the disk and back. Metadata paths describes the file system tree in the same way: where the tree is kept, how its copies stay synchronized, and what leaves the Master Server's machine. Network and protocol covers what the modules put on the wire, from the protocol and the ports to what the links underneath must carry.

This chapter describes structure. How It Works covers behavior of the form "in this situation the system does X" and describes one mechanism at a time in depth.