Category: basics

Where in the software stack should we encrypt data? My answer is, do encryption as low in the storage stack where it works well. The storage stack In particular, encrypted data does not compress well. Compression works by looking for and removing redundancy from the data. Effective encryption hides patterns and redundancies in the data, … Continue reading Where to do it? Encryption

Where in the software stack should we compress data? My answer is, do compression as high in the storage stack where it works well. The storage stack In other words, if an application data can do its own compression, let it compress. Compression relies on reducing redundancies in the data set - if something can … Continue reading Where to do it? Compression

Storage operations, such as compression, tiering, and replication, may happen throughout the "storage stack", and in some cases the same general operation could happen in more than one layer of the stack. When there is a choice, choosing correctly can make a big difference in performance and scalability. But before I talk about these different … Continue reading Where to do it? Layers in the storage stack

Spectrum Scale systems are organized into clusters. File systems and underlying resources are owned by clusters, managed by clusters, and possibly exported to remote clusters. Within a cluster, there is a need for certain management functions. Because we would like the cluster to remain active even in the face of systems or network links failing, … Continue reading Cluster quorum and Spectrum Scale