Design and Implementation of Networking Virtualization for Cluster File Systems

An effective network layer which reduces cluster file system complexity is definitely needed in cluster computing environments where more than thousands of nodes are connected on a variety of different networks. Therefore, widely used cluster file systems such as Lustre, PVFS2, and GlusterFS provide networking virtualization layer. Through networking virtualization layer, each node accesses other nodes using a single interface over a variety of networks. However, previous networking virtualization technologies are complicated and not portable. In this paper, we propose a simple, portable, and socket-like networking virtualization layer that operates on user-mode. We also evaluate our virtualization layer using benchmark tools.