Lustre: A Scalable, High-Performance File System

Today's network-oriented computing environments require high-performance, network-aware file systems that can satisfy both the data storage requirements of individual systems and the data sharing requirements of workgroups and clusters of cooperative systems. The Lustre File System, an open source, high-performance file system from Cluster File Systems, Inc., is a distributed file system that eliminates the performance, availability, and scalability problems that are present in many traditional distributed file systems. Lustre is a highly modular next generation storage architecture that combines established, open standards, the Linux operating system, and innovative protocols into a reliable, network-neutral data storage and retrieval solution. Lustre provides high I/O throughput in clusters and shared-data environments and also provides independence from the location of data on the physical storage, protection from single points of failure, and fast recovery from cluster reconfiguration and server or network outages.