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diff --git a/doc/book/src/intro.md b/doc/book/src/intro.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5455ae71 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/book/src/intro.md @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ + + +# The Garage Geo-Distributed Data Store + +Garage is a lightweight geo-distributed data store. +It comes from the observation that despite numerous object stores +many people have broken data management policies (backup/replication on a single site or none at all). +To promote better data management policies, with focused on the following desirable properties: + + - **Self-contained & lightweight**: works everywhere and integrates well in existing environments to target hyperconverged infrastructures + - **Highly resilient**: highly resilient to network failures, network latency, disk failures, sysadmin failures + - **Simple**: simple to understand, simple to operate, simple to debug + - **Internet enabled**: Made for multi-sites (eg. datacenter, offices, etc.) interconnected through a regular internet connection. + +We also noted that the pursuit of some other goals are detrimental to our initial goals. +The following have been identified has non-goals, if it matters to you, you should not use Garage: + + - **Extreme performances**: high performances constrain a lot the design and the deployment. We always prioritize + - **Feature extensiveness**: Complete implementation of the S3 API + - **Storage optimizations**: Erasure coding (our replication model is simply to copy the data as is on several nodes, in different datacenters if possible) + - **POSIX/Filesystem compatibility**: We do not aim at being POSIX compatible or to emulate any kind of filesystem. Indeed, in a distributed environment, such syncronizations are translated in network messages that impose severe constraints on the deployment. + +## Integration in environments + +Garage speaks (or will speak) the following protocols: + + - [S3](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/Welcome.html) - *SUPPORTED* - Enable applications to store large blobs such as pictures, video, images, documents, etc. S3 is versatile enough to also be used to publish a static website. + - [IMAP](https://github.com/go-pluto/pluto) - *PLANNED* - email storage is quite complex to get good oerformances. +To keep performances optimals, most imap servers only support on-disk storage. +We plan to add logic to Garage to make it a viable solution for email storage. + - *More to come* + +## Use Cases + +**[Deuxfleurs](https://deuxfleurs.fr) :** Garage is used by Deuxfleurs which is a non-profit hosting organization. +Especially, it is used to host their main website, this documentation and some of its members's blogs. Additionally, +Garage is used as a [backend for Nextcloud](https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/20/admin_manual/configuration_files/primary_storage.html). Deuxfleurs also plans to use Garage as their [Matrix's media backend](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse-s3-storage-provider) and has the backend of [OCIS](https://github.com/owncloud/ocis). + +*Are you using Garage? Open a pull request to add your organization here!* + +## Comparisons to existing software + +**[Minio](https://min.io/) :** Minio shares our *self-contained & lightweight* goal but selected two of our non-goals: *storage optimizations* through erasure coding and *POSIX/Filesystem compatibility* through strong consistency. +However, by pursuing these two non-goals, minio do not reach our desirable properties. +First, it fails on the *simple* property: due to the erasure coding, minio has severe limitations on how drives can be added or deleted from a cluster. +Second, it fails on the *interned enabled* property: due to its strong consistency, minio is latency sensitive. +Furthermore, minio has no knowledge of "sites" and thus can not distribute data to minimize the failure of a given site. + +**[Openstack Swift](https://docs.openstack.org/swift/latest/)** +OpenStack Swift at least fails on the *self-contained & lightweight* goal. +Starting it requires around 8Gb of RAM, which is too much especially in an hyperconverged infrastructure. +It seems also to be far from *Simple*. + +**[Pithos](https://github.com/exoscale/pithos)** +Pithos has been abandonned and should probably not used yet, in the following we explain why we did not pick their design. +Pithos was relying as a S3 proxy in front of Cassandra (and was working with Scylla DB too). +From its designers' mouth, storing data in Cassandra has shown its limitations justifying the project abandonment. +They built a closed-source version 2 that does not store blobs in the database (only metadata) but did not communicate further on it. +We considered there v2's design but concluded that it does not fit both our *Self-contained & lightweight* and *Simple* properties. It makes the development, the deployment and the operations more complicated while reducing the flexibility. + +**[IPFS](https://ipfs.io/)** +*Not written yet* |