Global File System

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The Global File System (GFS) is a shared storage file system available for Linux computer clusters.

GFS is different from distributed file systems like AFS, Coda, or InterMezzo because it requires all nodes to have direct concurrent access to the same shared block storage.

GFS has no disconnected operating mode, and no client or server roles. All nodes in a GFS cluster are peers.

Fibre Channel, iSCSI, or AoE devices are often used for GFS shared storage. GFS depends on a distributed lock manager like GULM or DLM.

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[edit] History

GFS originally developed as part of a thesis project at the University of Minnesota. At some point it made its way to Sistina Software, where it lived for a time as an open source project. Sometime in 2001 Sistina made the choice to make GFS a commercial product — not under an open source license.

OpenGFS was forked from the last public release of GFS and was then further developed to include updates allowing it to work with OpenDLM. OpenGFS and OpenDLM are now defunct as a result of RedHat releasing GFS and it's associated components as open source.

In December 2003 Red Hat purchased Sistina. In late June 2004, Red Hat released GFS and many cluster infrastructure pieces under the GPL. Red Hat's current goal for the project (aside from the normal bug fixing and stabilization) envisages inclusion in the mainline Linux kernel (achieved in version 2.6.19). GFS now forms part of the Fedora Core distribution and can be purchased as a commercial product on top of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Here are some version numbers and major features introduced:

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[edit] Background

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[edit] Related projects

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