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[Anand Avati <avati@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sherman,
 Please find replies inline -


> On 08/06/2011, at 3:16 AM, Sherman Boyd wrote:
>
>> I'm wondering if you are aware of Redhat's CloudFS project.

We work closely with the CloudFS project. CloudFS contributes
enhancements/changes to the upstream GlusterFS project while it adds
new "translators" (for those who don't know enough about GlusterFS to
know what a translator is - they are filesystem modules which are
essential to its design and architecture). We collaborate and sync up
on a weekly basis to discuss progress of common areas of interest and
to check that there is no duplication of efforts.

>> It adds namespace isolation, ID isolation, storage encryption and network encryption
>> to Gluster.  Having these kind of features takes a step towards addressing
>> cloud computing privacy issues.

Namespace isolation and ID isolation have been an essential part of
Gluster ever since its inception. While CloudFS does not "add"
namespace and ID isolation, it attempts to implement it differently.
For many reasons (whose discussion is more suited on the
GlusterFS/CloudFS mailing lists) the GlusterFS way of achieving
namespace and ID isolation (at the volume level) is fundamentally more
secure.

Network encryption (RPC over SSL) is implemented as a new RPC
transport and the prototype is already submitted for reviews. This,
along with some massages and changes, will be merged upstream and will
be available in GlusterFS.

The feature that CloudFS implements today, but not available in
GlusterFS is at-rest/storage encryption.

>> I'm not sure it's in the scope of your plans, but when I saw your proposal
>> I thought that it would be nice to have some of these features as well, or
>> at least space for them on the roadmap.

While at-rest encryption is not part of our immediate road-map, we do
have other cloud/elastic features such as Unified Cloud/File storage,
drop-in replacement for HDFS in Hadoop, Geo replication
(public-private cloud synchronization) and also in Active-Active mode,
etc.

Thanks,
Avati

--
Anand V. Avati
Systems Architect
Gluster