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About This Documentation

This guide describes how to deploy, operate, and decommission a Hammerspace Global File System (GFS) — the multi-site, active-active capability of the Hammerspace Global Data Platform that provides unified, multi-protocol file and object access (NFS, SMB, S3) across multiple storage systems, sites, and clouds.

It is written for an experienced storage, networking, or systems administrator who is new to Hammerspace. Readers are assumed to be comfortable with NFS/SMB, object storage, Active Directory and Kerberos, and multi-site replication concepts, but not yet with Hammerspace terminology, the CLI, or the Management GUI. Hammerspace-specific concepts are explained from first principles.

A working Hammerspace installation at each participating site is required before beginning GFS deployment. This guide does not cover base-product installation; see the Hammerspace Installation and Licensing Guide and the Hammerspace Configuration Guide.

How to read this guide

This guide is written to be read start to finish — Parts 1 and 2 build the concepts that Parts 3 onward assume you already have. If you want to get a two-site deployment running first and fill in the background as you go, a workable shortcut is: read Core concepts (it’s short and covers the one idea everything else depends on), skip directly to Deploy and configure a global file system, and come back for Architecture, Handling Conflicts, and Prerequisites when you hit something that assumes them.

Running into an unfamiliar term anywhere in this guide? Check Appendix A: Glossary of terms before assuming it’s explained nearby — most Hammerspace-specific terms are defined there even when the surrounding chapter doesn’t stop to define them inline.

Do not install additional or third-party software, agents, or packages directly on Hammerspace Anvil (metadata) or DSX (data) nodes. These nodes run a managed appliance software stack; anything installed outside that stack is unsupported and is removed during a software upgrade. If you need monitoring or integration with an external tool, contact Hammerspace Support for a supported approach.