Administrator Guide

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How FS8x00 Scale-Out NAS Works
Dell FS8x00 scale-out NAS leverages the Dell Fluid File System (FluidFS) and Storage Centers to present le storage to Microsoft
Windows, UNIX, and Linux clients. The FluidFS cluster supports the Windows, UNIX, and Linux operating systems installed on a
dedicated server or installed on virtual systems deploying Hyper-V or VMware virtualization.
The Storage Centers present a certain amount of capacity (NAS pool) to the FluidFS cluster. This NAS pool is then divided into NAS
volumes, which in turn are used to create SMB shares and NFS exports.
Figure 45. NAS Storage
To the client, the FluidFS cluster presents itself as a single le server, hosting multiple SMB shares and NFS exports, with a single IP
address and namespace. Clients connect to the FluidFS cluster using their respective operating system's NAS protocols:
• UNIX and Linux users access les through the NFS protocol
• Windows users access les through the SMB protocol
• Users can also access les through the FTP and FTPS protocols
The FluidFS cluster serves data to all clients concurrently.
FS8x00 Scale-Out NAS Terminology
The following table denes terminology related to FS8x00 scale-out NAS.
Term
Description
Fluid File System (FluidFS) Dell’s high-performance, scalable le system software installed on NAS controllers.
Appliance (NAS appliance) A rack-mounted 2U chassis that contains two hot-swappable NAS controllers in an active-active
conguration in a FluidFS cluster. Cache data is mirrored between the paired NAS controllers
within the NAS appliance.
Controller (NAS controller) The two primary components of a NAS appliance, each of which functions as a separate
member in the FluidFS cluster.
Peer controller The NAS controller with which a specic NAS controller is paired in a NAS appliance.
How FS8x00 Scale-Out NAS Works
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