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The SmartPools framework handles data tiering and management in OneFS. From a data protection and layout efficiency point of view, SmartPools facilitates the subdivision of large numbers of high-capacity, homogeneous nodes into smaller, more efficiently protected disk pools. For example, a 40-node nearline cluster with 3 TB SATA disks typically runs at a +4n protection level. However, partitioning it into two, 20-node disk pools would allow each pool to run at +2n protection. Doing so would lower the protection overhead and improve space utilization without any net increase in management overhead.
In keeping with the goal of storage management simplicity, OneFS automatically calculates and divides the cluster into pools of disks. The disks are optimized for both Mean Time to Data Loss (MTTDL) and efficient space utilization. Protection-level decisions, such as those described in the preceding 40-node cluster example, are not left to the customer.
With automatic provisioning, every set of equivalent node hardware is automatically divided into disk pools consisting of up to 40 nodes and six drives per node. These disk pools are protected against up to two drive failures per disk pool. Multiple similar disk pools are automatically combined into node pools. The node pools can be further aggregated into logical tiers and managed with SmartPools file pool policies. By subdividing a node’s disks into multiple, separately protected disk pools, nodes are significantly more resilient to multiple disk failures than previously possible.
When initially configuring a cluster, OneFS automatically assigns nodes to node pools. Nodes are not pooled—not associated with each other—until at least three nodes are assigned to the node pool. A node pool with fewer than three nodes is considered an under-provisioned pool.