HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System) is a fundamental component of the Apache Hadoop ecosystem designed specifically for handling big data processing. It provides a distributed storage system that can reliably store massive amounts of data across clusters of commodity hardware.
Key Characteristics of HDFS
- Write-Once, Read-Many (WORM): HDFS is optimized for write-once, read-many operations, meaning files are written once and read multiple times
- Distributed Storage: Breaks large files into smaller blocks and distributes them across multiple nodes in a cluster
- Fault Tolerance: Maintains multiple copies of data blocks across different nodes to ensure data reliability and availability
- High Throughput: Optimized for large data sets and batch processing rather than interactive use
- Scalability: Can easily scale horizontally by adding more nodes to the cluster
Architecture Components
- NameNode: Manages the file system namespace and regulates access to files
- DataNodes: Store actual data blocks and handle read/write requests from clients
HDFS is particularly well-suited for applications that require processing large datasets in parallel, making it an essential tool in modern big data analytics and processing workflows.
graph TD;
A["Client File"] --> B["HDFS Client"];
B --> C["Split into Blocks"];
C --> D["Block A"];
C --> E["Block B"];
C --> F["Block C"];
subgraph NameNode[NameNode System]
style NameNode fill:#e6f3ff,stroke:#4d94ff
G1["Metadata"]
G2["Block Locations"]
end
D --> NameNode;
E --> NameNode;
F --> NameNode;
NameNode --> H["DataNode 1"];
NameNode --> I["DataNode 2"];
NameNode --> J["DataNode 3"];
%% Block A Replication
D --> K["Block A Copy 1<br/>DataNode 1"];
D --> L["Block A Copy 2<br/>DataNode 2"];
D --> M["Block A Copy 3<br/>DataNode 3"];
%% Block B Replication
E --> N["Block B Copy 1<br/>DataNode 2"];
E --> O["Block B Copy 2<br/>DataNode 3"];
E --> P["Block B Copy 3<br/>DataNode 1"];
%% Block C Replication
F --> Q["Block C Copy 1<br/>DataNode 3"];
F --> R["Block C Copy 2<br/>DataNode 1"];
F --> S["Block C Copy 3<br/>DataNode 2"];
The diagram shows:
- Client file submission to HDFS
- File splitting into Blocks A, B, and C
- Each block is replicated 3 times
- Block copies are distributed across different DataNodes for redundancy
- NameNode manages the metadata and block locations