Terminus

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Data ​

Motivation ​

Since data has state and requires extra effort for operation and maintenance, in the past developers often gave priority to using basic services provided by public clouds, such as: S3, RDS, etc.

Kubernetes is an excellent container orchestration tool that can handle the orchestration of stateless applications very well. However, there has long been controversy over whether it can manage stateful data well.

Considering that managing data on Kubernetes is a troublesome matter, Terminus hopes to take on this responsibility, optimize it from a system perspective, and provide developers with the same data hosting services as public clouds. Developers only need to focus on business logic.

Introduction ​

User data is usually stored in file systems and databases. Of the two, databases are built based on file systems. Here are our design philosophies with them:

For file systems:

  • Terminus is designed for multi-node clusters. Therefore, developers need to consider the access to the file system when the program is scheduled to different nodes when developing applications. We want to shield these details from developers.

For databases:

  • For common databases, developers only need to modify the configuration to complete the integration.
  • Different users and applications can share physical database instances to save resource overhead.

For both:

  • Data between different users and different applications are isolated from each other.
  • Scalable and highly available.
  • Capable of performing unified backup and restore at the system level.

File System Type ​

JuiceFS ​

Terminus OS uses JuiceFS as the underlying multi-physical node shared file system solution. In this way, applications can obtain cross-node file access using the simplest HostPath PV method. This allows Pods to be freely scheduled in the cluster.

As for the back-end object storage solution of JuiceFS, we also provide two solutions: S3 and MinIO.

By default, Terminus OS uses MinIO as object storage when installed locally. Initial installation starts with Single Node Single Driver (SNSD) mode. At the same time, we provide the Scale tool in the installation package, which allows you to freely expand your MinIO storage.

Local Disk ​

In some application systems, intensive file system read and write operations may occur. These intensive file system read and write operations are often fragmented random reads and writes. In various existing distributed storage cluster solutions, for such intensive fragmented random read and write operations, it is very likely that I/O or CPU consumption will be too high (usually due to high I/O Wait). Condition.

The best practice provided by Terminus is to make full use of the node's local hard disk as a file buffer. Although the local hard disk of the node has limited capacity, it has high-speed read and write performance because it basically uses SSD hard disk. If the application reads and writes files, it will be buffered on the local hard disk of the node, and then written asynchronously to the distributed file system in batches. This can turn most of the fragmented random reads and writes into a few sequential reads and writes. This greatly improves system I/O efficiency.

Application Storage Path ​

For applications, there are 3 different storage paths to deal with different usage scenarios. Accessible via Files

UserData ​

The UserData storage path stores files that change infrequently but require cross-application access, such as documents, photos, and videos.

Applications can obtain access permissions to a directory under the Home directory by applying for UserData permissions in TerminusManifest.yaml. For example, you can request permissions to the Picture directory for PhotoPrism, and permissions to the Downloads directory for qBittorrent and Jefflyn.

AppData ​

The AppData storage path stores data that does not change frequently but needs to span across nodes. For example, configuration files.

Applications can apply for AppData permissions in TerminusManifest.yaml.

AppCache ​

The AppCache storage path is allocated for applications that directly operate the disk with good performance. The disadvantage is that it cannot be accessed across nodes. For example, the system database, application log, and cache.

Applications can apply for AppCache permissions in TerminusManifest.yaml.

PostgreSQL ​

As one of the most popular open-source relational databases, PostgreSQL has excellent performance and rich plug-in functions. Terminus OS deploys PostgreSQL on the system along with the popular Citus distributed database plug-in. At the same time, its cluster is managed through the PG Operator in the TAPR component. Users can easily expand the number of PostgreSQL nodes. And can back up and restore data along with the entire Terminus system.

If the PostgreSQL database application declared by the developer in the application is Distributed, then Terminus will build its database on Citus, allowing the application to fully utilize the capabilities of the distributed PG database.

  • Version: 11.3.0

MongoDB ​

In the field of Internet of Things, MongoDB, as a representative of NoSQL, has a wide range of application scenarios. Terminus OS deploys Percona Operator for MongoDB in the system. Provides developers with a cloud-native version of MongoDB Cluster.

Like PostgreSQL, Terminus also manages MongoDB backup and restore in a unified manner. System users do not need to have any DBA technical capabilities to easily implement functions such as scheduled backup, incremental backup, and fixed-point restore.

  • Version: 6.0.4

Redis ​

There is no doubt that Redis can be regarded as the most popular memory cache software currently. It has rich instructions and derives a variety of data types based on Key-Value data. Many systems even use it as KV data storage. Terminus OS also deploys a customized Redis Cluster Operator in the system, providing a cloud-native version of Redis Cluster.

Terminus also takes over the backup and restore of Redis Cluster. There is no need for users to provide any separate operation and maintenance operations for Redis Cluster.

In addition, since Redis Cluster itself lacks a data isolation mechanism, Terminus OS has also developed a proxy layer tool to implement the namespace mechanism of data. This isolation mechanism is completely transparent to developers. Developers do not need to do any special processing of data keys in their code. Data isolation between multiple applications and multiple users can be achieved with simple configuration in TAC.

  • Version: 6.2.13

TIP

The system uses the Redis Cluster version, which is different from the stand-alone version of Redis. Developers need to carefully understand the official Redis documentation.

ES (ZincSearch) ​

Terminus also deploys a stand-alone full-text search engine Zinc Search in the system. It has an ES-compatible API and can achieve satisfactory search response speed with less resource consumption. Similar to MacOS, Terminus OS will store various documents and text-type files in the system. Automatically indexed into Zinc Search. Provide users with convenient file search functions.

At the same time, as part of the middleware. Zinc Search, like the other three databases, is also available to application developers. Developers can easily configure applications in TAC and add custom index schemas. You can call the full-text search interface of your own index in the application.

Backup ​

Backup is the backup and restore module of Terminus OS.

It helps users backup the entire Terminus to Terminus Space, and also supports user-defined storage locations.

Backup operations can be performed daily and weekly. The first backup of each backup plan is a full backup and serves as the first snapshot of the backup plan. Subsequent snapshots are incremental backups.

Backup objects include:

  • Kubernetes configuration data, such as user information, application information, etc.
  • Database data, such as Redis, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, etc.
  • File system data, such as videos, pictures, and various documents uploaded by users through the Files application

The Backup component also has data restoration capabilities. You can download a backup snapshot to a local server or Terminus Space to restore a complete Terminus by rebuilding Kubernetes, databases, and user personal information.

Learn More ​