Parallel File System

A parallel file system, also known as a clustered file system, is a type of storage system designed to store data across multiple networked servers and to facilitate high-performance access through simultaneous, coordinated input/output operations (IOPS) between clients and storage nodes. A parallel file system breaks up a data set and distributes, or stripes, the blocks to multiple storage drives, which can be located in local and/or remote servers. Users do not need to know the physical location of the data blocks to retrieve a file, as the system uses a global namespace to facilitate data access. Data is read / written to the storage drives / devices using multiple I/O paths concurrently, providing a significant performance benefit. Storage capacity and bandwidth can be scaled to accommodate enormous quantities of data, and features may include high availability, mirroring, replication and snapshots.

Parallel file systems are ideal for high-performance computing (HPC) applications that require access to large files, massive quantities of data or simultaneous access from multiple compute servers. Applications include climate modeling, computer-aided engineering, exploratory data analysis, financial modeling, genomic sequencing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, seismic processing, video editing and visual effects rendering. Users of parallel file systems span national laboratories, government agencies and universities, as well as industries such as financial services, life sciences, manufacturing, media and entertainment, and oil and gas.

GIGABYTE has partnered with software storage platform vendor Alcestor / Tuxera to offer MooseFS, a high performance parallel file storage system platform as a turnkey hardware / software package, ready for fast and easy deployment into your data center.