Gluster Terminology
- Brick
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A basic unit of storage in the Gluster file system. A brick is disk storage made available using an exported directory on a server in a trusted storage pool.
- Distributed File System
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A file system that allows multiple clients to concurrently access data spread across bricks in a trusted storage pool.
- Extended Attributes
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Extended file attributes (abbreviated as xattr) is a file system feature that enables users or programs to associate files and directories with metadata. Gluster stores metadata in xattrs.
- Gluster Client
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A Gluster client runs the
glusterfs-clientsoftware to mount gluster storage, either locally or remotely using the Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE) software interface. - Gluster Server
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A Gluster server runs the
glusterdservice daemon to become a node in the trusted storage pool. - Gluster Volume
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A Gluster volume is a logical collection of bricks. Volumes can be distributed, replicated, distributed replicated, dispersed, or distributed dispersed.
- Heketi
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A service that exposes an API for scripts to manage trusted storage pools and volumes automatically.
- Heketi Cluster
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A Gluster trusted storage pool.
- Node
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A host system that is a member of a trusted storage pool.
- Split-brain
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A situation where data on two or more bricks in a replicated volume diverges (the content or metadata differs).
- Trusted Storage Pool
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A trusted storage pool is a collection of nodes that form a cluster.