QA
Senior LevelSystem Design & Architecture

How do you design a Distributed File System (like Google File System / HDFS)?

❓ Interview Prompt: Explain Distributed File Systems (GFS / HDFS), Master/NameNode metadata, Chunkservers/DataNodes, 64MB chunk sizes, and rack-aware replication.

Designing a large-scale Distributed File System (Google File System / HDFS):

Architecture:

1
Single Master Node (NameNode): Stores directory namespace metadata and chunk locations in memory.
2
Chunkservers (DataNodes): Store large fixed-size file chunks (64MB) on local commodity disk drives.
3
Rack-Aware 3x Replication: Every chunk is replicated 3 times (2 chunks on the same rack, 1 chunk on a distinct rack for disaster recovery).

Code Implementation Example

markdown
Distributed File System (GFS/HDFS) Architecture:

                  [Master / NameNode (Metadata in RAM)]
                                   │
               (Directs Client to Chunk Locations)
                                   │
                                   ▼
[Client] ──(Read 64MB Chunk)──> [Chunkserver 1 (Rack A)]
                                   │ (Rack-Aware Sync)
                                   ▼
                                [Chunkserver 2 (Rack B)]
💡Distributed File System architecture with Master and Chunkserver replication.
🎯 Interview Key Takeaway

Design distributed file systems using centralized metadata masters and chunkservers with rack-aware replication.

#System Design#DFS#GFS#HDFS#Senior
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