# Usiung a distributed filesystem

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/usiung-a-distributed-filesystem/145263>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 7, 2008, 9:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/usiung-a-distributed-filesystem/145263 "2008-08-07T09:51:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mhfs)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/usiung-a-distributed-filesystem/145263/1 "2008-08-07T09:51:37Z")

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Hello list,

I wonder if anyone around uses or ever used a distributed filesystem for  
a  
Rails app (or any other platform). If so:

- Do I need any explicit code in the application to use a distributed  
filesystem or is its use transparent ?
- Could you give an example of an architecture of servers for  
high-peformance Rails application with a dist. filesystem? (how many  
servers, their roles, protocols, server layout, etc).

Could you share your experiences and thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Marcelo.

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**Author:** ![mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mhfs)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/usiung-a-distributed-filesystem/145263/2 "2008-08-07T17:45:12Z")

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Hi Marcelo,

There are different types of distributed filesystems out there. If you  
want to use one with Rails or any other “normal” application, that is  
not aware of distributed nature of files it’s using (99% of apps?),  
you have to choose one that provides virtual filesystem abstraction.  
For example in Linux, these would be mounted somewhere in your root  
filesystem, like /mnt/distributed and all of your apps (ans shell)  
could access files like they were local.

I know that Kosmos file system uses FUSE this way and provides nice  
abstraction layer to your applications, but I’m lacking further  
experience/knowledge in this field.

On Aug 7, 9:50 am, “Marcelo de Moraes S.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

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**Author:** ![mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mhfs)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/usiung-a-distributed-filesystem/145263/3 "2008-08-07T22:18:43Z")

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Thanks a bunch Hubert.

The weird thing is that I don’t see much Rails’ developers talking about  
using a dist. filesystem. I think hat it can be the best thing since  
slice  
bread, at least for applications that make heavy use of file assets. I  
don’t  
think that storing in the database is better.

Marcelo.

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**Author:** ![mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mhfs)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/usiung-a-distributed-filesystem/145263/4 "2008-08-07T22:40:58Z")

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Marcelo -

On 7-Aug-08, at 4:16 PM, Marcelo de Moraes S. wrote:

> Thanks a bunch Hubert.
> 
> The weird thing is that I don’t see much Rails’ developers talking  
> about using a dist. filesystem. I think hat it can be the best thing  
> since slice bread, at least for applications that make heavy use of  
> file assets. I don’t think that storing in the database is better.
> 
> Marcelo.

I suggest you take a tour over to the Rails Deployment list - the  
topic has been raised before, and Ezra has some opinions on what  
filesystems they decided to roll out at Engine Y…

Jodi

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**Author:** ![mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@mhfs](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mhfs)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 6:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/usiung-a-distributed-filesystem/145263/5 "2008-08-08T06:35:23Z")

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On Aug 7, 2008, at 1:40 PM, Jodi S. wrote:

> I suggest you take a tour over to the Rails Deployment list - the  
> topic has been raised before, and Ezra has some opinions on what  
> filesystems they decided to roll out at Engine Y…

I agree that the Rails Deployment list is a good place for this. 🙂

We use GFS (Red Hat, not Google), but it’s a clustered filesystem, not  
a distributed filesystem.

Marcelo, which distributed FS were you thinking of?

–  
– Tom M., CTO  
– Engine Y., Ruby on Rails Hosting  
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– (866) 518-YARD (9273) x201