Notes of [The Google file system] by Ghemawat et al.

1. What is Google File System (GFS)?

Google File System is a scalable distributed file system for large distributed data-intensive applications.

(The Google File System demonstrates the qualities essential for supporting large-scale data processing workloads on commodity hardware)

2. What are the key features of GFS?

1. Component failures are the norm rather than the exception;
2. Files are huge by traditional standards;
3. Most files are mutated by appending new data rather than overwriting existing data;
4. Co-designing the applications and the file system API benefits the overall system by increasing our flexibility.

3. What is clustered storage?

When a file system uses clustered storage, it is simultaneously mounted on multiple servers.