SwarmFS is a lightweight file protocol converter that brings the benefits of Swarm's scale-out object storage to NFSv4, seamlessly integrating files and object storage. With SwarmFS, data can be securely stored and accessed via NFSv4, S3, HDFS, and SCSP/HTTP, making it possible to organize billions of files coming from different protocols, distribute data to different locations, and search all files at once.

SwarmFS brings the benefits of native object storage to NFS, but it is not a complete replacement for all traditional file (NAS/SAN) needs. In particular, note the following:

• Rapid Updates: Frequent file updates, such as updates to databases, video editing, and storage of active vmdk files does not perform well and are not recommended.

• Large Files: SwarmFS performs well with files up to 30GB and best with files of 10GB and smaller; writing files of 100GB and greater is regularly tested. Reading from files (objects) of any size is fully supported.

• Versioning: Object versioning is supported (the last version written by any method becomes the current version), but it generates heavy demands on storage resources. Enabling it in a SwarmFS context is not recommended.