Google’s Working On New File System

We often don’t think about the core file system and servers that power Google’s properties, from Search and Gmail to YouTube and Wave, but Google does. The Register reports that after ten years with the original Google File System, GFS for short, Google is working on a version two to replace it. The Google File System is different from the underlining Caffeine infrastructure update, as I understand it, Caffeine runs on top of the Google File System, like you run Microsoft Word on Windows.

The original GFS wasn’t built to handle applications such as Gmail or YouTube, but that is exactly what it has been powering for the past couple years. It was originally designed to be the platform to power search queries and is now being asked to do a lot more. Version two, will take this into account. The release date is unknown, but The Register goes through all the technical details that would make any system administrator raise their eye brows. Personally, I don’t fully grasp these details, but conceptually, it make sense.