Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)

Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) is a core component of the Apache Hadoop ecosystem, designed for storing very large files across multiple machines in a distributed manner. It provides high-throughput access to application data and is optimized for batch processing of massive datasets on…

Key facts

First appeared
2005
Category
technology
Problem solved
HDFS was created to address the monumental challenge of reliably storing and processing petabytes, and eventually exabytes, of data generated by the burgeoning internet. Traditional file systems and relational databases struggled with the scale, cost, and fault tolerance required for massive data volumes on commodity hardware, often failing to efficiently handle write-once, read-many analytical workloads.
Platforms
Linux, Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Unix-like operating systems

Related technologies

Notable users

  • Facebook
  • Yahoo!
  • Twitter
  • Netflix
  • Many large enterprises in finance, telecommunications, and retail
  • eBay