From: Zooko O'Whielacronx Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:02:19 +0000 (-0700) Subject: docs: small edit to about.html X-Git-Tag: allmydata-tahoe-1.3.0~46 X-Git-Url: https://git.rkrishnan.org/COPYING.TGPPL.html?a=commitdiff_plain;h=2dcadfaa1b3b0269b8b063c283374f753ff40012;p=tahoe-lafs%2Ftahoe-lafs.git docs: small edit to about.html --- diff --git a/docs/about.html b/docs/about.html index b22f3627..eaa33917 100644 --- a/docs/about.html +++ b/docs/about.html @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@

Overview

A "storage grid" is made up of a number of storage servers. A storage server has local attached storage (typically one or more hard disks). A "gateway" uses the storage servers and provides to its clients a filesystem over a standard protocol such as HTTP(S), FUSE, SMB, or (S)FTP.

Users do not rely on storage servers to provide confidentiality nor integrity for their data -- instead all of the data is encrypted and integrity-checked by the gateway, so that the servers can neither read nor alter the contents of the files.

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Users do rely on storage servers for availability. The ciphertext is erasure-coded and distributed across N storage servers (the default value for N is 10) so that it can be recovered from any K of these servers (the default value of K is 3). Therefore only the simultaneous failure of N-K+1 (with the defaults, 8) servers can make the data unavailable. Users rely on the gateway for the confidentiality and integrity of the data, and on any 3 of the 10 servers for the availability of the data.

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Users do rely on storage servers for availability. The ciphertext is erasure-coded and distributed across N storage servers (the default value for N is 10) so that it can be recovered from any K of these servers (the default value of K is 3). Therefore only the simultaneous failure of N-K+1 (with the defaults, 8) servers can make the data unavailable. Users rely on the gateway for the confidentiality and integrity of the data, and on any 3 of the 10 servers for the availability of the data.

In the typical deployment mode each user runs her own gateway on her own machine. This way she relies on only her own machine for the confidentiality and integrity of the data, and she can take advantage of filesystem integration using FUSE or SMB.

An alternate deployment mode is that the gateway runs on a remote machine and the user connects to it over HTTPS or SFTP. This means that the operator of the gateway can view and modify the user's data (the user relies on the gateway for confidentiality and integrity), but the user can access the filesystem with a client that doesn't have the gateway software installed, such as an Internet kiosk or cell phone.