6.1 HP IBRIX X9000 Network Storage System File System User Guide (TA768-96061, June 2012)

1 Using X9000 Software file systems
File system operations
The following diagram highlights the operating principles of the X9000 file system.
The topology in the diagram reflects the architecture of the HP X9320, which uses a building block
of server pairs (known as couplets) with SAS attached storage. In the diagram:
• There are four file serving nodes, SS1–SS4. These nodes are also called segment servers.
• SS1 and SS2 share access to segments 1–4 through SAS connections to a shared storage
array.
• SS3 and SS4 share access to segments 5-8 through SAS connections to a shared storage
array.
• One client is accessing the name space using NAS protocols.
• One client is using the proprietary X9000 client.
The following steps correspond to the numbering in the diagram:
1. The “namespace” of the file system is a collection of segments. Each segment is simply a
repository for files and directories with no implicit namespace relationships among them.
8 Using X9000 Software file systems