Glossary

Term/Component	Description
Anvil Nodes	A Hammerspace metadata server. Responsible for managing all the metadata for the Global File System, and hosts the API and Management GUI services. Manages data policies, objectives, and failover coordination.
Cloud Mover (CM)	A Hammerspace data service responsible for uploading and downloading data from cloud and object storage. This service can run on a Hammerspace DSX node or a supported Linux server.
DI (Data Instantiator)	Responsible for moving data from one NFS (Network File System) location to another NFS location, also known as an "NFS to NFS data mover". This service can run on a Hammerspace DSX node or a supported Linux server.
Data Services Nodes (DSX)	The Hammerspace data services node. Includes functional capabilities like Portal, Mover, Cloud Mover, and Store.
HSTK	Hammerspace Toolkit is a BASH command line tool that provides access to Hammerspace metadata and other functionality for clients.
Instance	A managed copy of a file placed on a Hammerspace volume. A file can have one or many instances for performance or protection reasons, but this is typically invisible to applications and users.
Linux Storage Server (LSS)	Servers running Linux that are specifically configured and optimized to serve as storage nodes within a larger system.
Mover	A stateless DSX service that moves files non-disruptively between file storage volumes.
NFS (Network File System)	A distributed file system protocol that allows users on a client computer to access files over a network as if they were stored locally.
RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access)	Architecture where data can be transferred directly between computer memory and storage devices (or between two storage devices) without involving the CPU or operating system of the sending or receiving systems.
SMB (Server Message Block)	A network communication protocol for providing shared access to files, printers, and serial ports between nodes on a network.
Tier 0 Nodes	GPU compute nodes (e.g., NVIDIA DGX) with local NVMe used as high-performance storage.

Term/Component

Description

Anvil Nodes

A Hammerspace metadata server. Responsible for managing all the metadata for the Global File System, and hosts the API and Management GUI services. Manages data policies, objectives, and failover coordination.

Cloud Mover (CM)

A Hammerspace data service responsible for uploading and downloading data from cloud and object storage. This service can run on a Hammerspace DSX node or a supported Linux server.

DI (Data Instantiator)

Responsible for moving data from one NFS (Network File System) location to another NFS location, also known as an "NFS to NFS data mover". This service can run on a Hammerspace DSX node or a supported Linux server.

Data Services Nodes (DSX)

The Hammerspace data services node. Includes functional capabilities like Portal, Mover, Cloud Mover, and Store.

HSTK

Hammerspace Toolkit is a BASH command line tool that provides access to Hammerspace metadata and other functionality for clients.

Instance

A managed copy of a file placed on a Hammerspace volume. A file can have one or many instances for performance or protection reasons, but this is typically invisible to applications and users.

Linux Storage Server (LSS)

Servers running Linux that are specifically configured and optimized to serve as storage nodes within a larger system.

Mover

A stateless DSX service that moves files non-disruptively between file storage volumes.

NFS (Network File System)

A distributed file system protocol that allows users on a client computer to access files over a network as if they were stored locally.

RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access)

Architecture where data can be transferred directly between computer memory and storage devices (or between two storage devices) without involving the CPU or operating system of the sending or receiving systems.

SMB (Server Message Block)

A network communication protocol for providing shared access to files, printers, and serial ports between nodes on a network.

Tier 0 Nodes

GPU compute nodes (e.g., NVIDIA DGX) with local NVMe used as high-performance storage.