MinIO and SeeWeedFS - kdwivedi1985/system-design GitHub Wiki
MinIO
- MinIO is a high-performance, distributed object storage system designed to store unstructured data such as photos, videos, log files, backups, and container/VM images.
- It is API-compatible with Amazon S3, which means it can act as a drop-in replacement for AWS S3 in on-premises or hybrid cloud environments.
- Full support for the S3 API (GET, PUT, POST, DELETE, etc.)
- Supports Horizontal Scaling: Easily scales from a single node to thousands of nodes.
- MinIO is more popular than HDFS for on-perm use cases for Object storage.
- MinIO can be used for Big Data / Machine Learning environments, HDFS replacements, High performance data lake, Cloud native applications (replacing file and block) etc.
- The nodes in MinIO cluster are grouped into a server pool. Each node is aware of the entire cluster topology, so any client can connect to any node. The node receiving the request routes internal operations to the correct nodes and returns the final response to the client.
- MinIO splits each object into data and parity shards using Reed-Solomon erasure coding. For example, with 12 disks, an object might be split into 6 data shards and 6 parity shards. This allows the system to tolerate the loss of up to half the nodes or drives without data loss.
- While clients can connect to any node, it is recommended to use a load balancer.
- Data and meta-data synchronization between nodes is managed automatically through erasure coding and internal healing processes.
SeeWeedFS
- SeaweedFS is a** distributed file system** with a layered architecture designed for scalability, high performance, and efficient metadata management.
- Supports both:
- File system semantics (POSIX-like via Filer)
- Object storage semantics (S3-compatible API)
- Built-in support for Geo Replication (cross-data center replication.
- It Can be mounted via FUSE or exposed via NFS.
- Core Components:
- Master Server : Manages cluster metadata, volume assignments, and topology. Coordinates volume servers.
- Volume Server : Stores actual file data in chunks and in large disk files (volumes). Handles read/write operations.
- Filer Server (optional) : Provides advanced features (POSIX, S3, WebDAV) and manages rich metadata via an external database.
Compare MinIO with SeaweedFS and S3
| Feature | MinIO | SeaweedFS | Amazon S3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage Format | Object storage (S3-compatible); flat key-value | Hybrid: Object storage + POSIX-like file system via Filer | Object storage; flat key-value |
| Deployment | Self-hosted; lightweight binary or container; Kubernetes-native | Self-hosted; standalone or clustered; supports Kubernetes | Fully managed by AWS (no self-hosted version) |
| API Interface | Full S3 API compatibility; AWS SDK-compatible | S3-compatible API + gRPC + REST + Filer API (POSIX-like) | Native S3 REST API; AWS SDKs & CLI support |
| Performance | Very high(optimized for throughput and latency); supports erasure coding | Very high (fast writes, seeks, streaming); efficient small file storage | High (backed by AWS infra; performance abstracted from user) |
| Scalability | Horizontally scalable; distributed mode supports multi-node and petabytes | Horizontally scalable; supports volume tiering and replication | Virtually unlimited (scales with AWS infrastructure globally) |
| Consistency | Strong consistency (read-after-write by default) | Strong consistency across volumes and files | Strong consistency for most operations; eventual for multipart uploads |
| Use Cases | AI/ML pipelines, hybrid cloud storage, backup/archive, S3 replacement | Media storage, edge systems, document storage, file-object hybrid use | General-purpose cloud apps, web/mobile apps, analytics, SaaS |
| Security | TLS, IAM-style access control, encryption-at-rest & in-transit, audit logs | TLS, volume-level security, JWT/token-based auth, optional encryption | IAM, bucket policies, encryption (KMS/SSE), access logs, compliance tools |
| License | AGPL v3 (open source, commercial license available for enterprise) | Apache 2.0 (fully open source, permissive) | Proprietary (AWS) |
Usecases
| Use Case | Best Option |
|---|---|
| Lightweight S3-compatible storage | MinIO or SeaweedFS |
| Massive-scale unified storage (object/block/file) | Ceph |
| Geo-replicated clusters with minimal setup | Garage |