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Platform Engineering · Capability
SeaweedFS Storage.
Block + object storage with a small blast radius. SeaweedFS gives us an S3-compatible storage layer, block devices for Kubernetes via CSI, and a WebDAV frontend — all from one binary.
Scope
What we do
- Deploy SeaweedFS masters, volumes, and filers.
- Operate the SeaweedFS CSI driver for Kubernetes persistent volumes.
- Serve S3-compatible buckets through the filer + S3 gateway.
- Multi-region replication and master failover.
Practical
Exercises we run
Small, repeatable drills we use on engagements and teach in workshops. Each has a lab setup, step-by-step outline, and measurable output.
Benchmarks & trade-offs
SeaweedFS vs Longhorn vs Rook on a fixed workload
Three storage layers we reach for depending on workload shape. Rather than quote vendor numbers we haven't reproduced, we characterise each on three axes of a typical workload.
| Project | Small-object random write | Large-object sequential throughput | Failure domain |
|---|---|---|---|
| SeaweedFS | Excellent — the master/volume split is optimised for billions of small files; append-only volumes amortise index updates across many writes. | Strong with erasure coding on — stripe size is tunable; saturates disk sequentially on most commodity volumes. | Volume-level: losing one volume server loses that volume's shards until replication or EC rebuild. Master cluster (3-node) handles metadata failover. |
| Longhorn | OK — synchronous 3-replica sync on every write is the floor; fine for app databases, expensive for small-object workloads at scale. | Limited by per-replica network and the replica iSCSI backend; good for single-workload block storage, not object scale. | Per-volume: a volume depends on its replica set (usually 3 pods); node failure re-schedules its replicas. No cross-region story without manual effort. |
| Rook (Ceph) | Good once scaled — RADOS object placement shines at tens of nodes; small clusters pay for the Ceph control plane's overhead. | Strong — librados + BlueStore are designed for sustained throughput; EC pools work well for cold-ish large-object tiers. | CRUSH-map aware: rack/host/osd domains can be declared; operational burden of Ceph is the real cost (monitors, OSDs, upgrade drill). |
These are qualitative framings, not measurements we've run on your hardware. Real numbers depend on disk, network, and access pattern — we run targeted benchmarks as part of the storage-architecture engagement.
Further reading
More on SeaweedFS.
Workshops we teach + field notes we're writing, all linked back to what you just read. See all workshops → See all field notes →
Hands-on: SeaweedFS storage — 1-day workshop
Stand up a 4-node cluster, attach to K8s via the CSI driver, benchmark against Longhorn on the same hardware.
Scheduling soon →
S3-compatible storage on a Raspberry Pi cluster
4-Pi topology with master-failover drill, apples-to-apples benchmark vs Longhorn, and erasure-coding recovery.
Draft →
Mount SeaweedFS as Kubernetes persistent volume
CSI driver + Postgres workload + `fio` matrix yielding a choice-tree runbook for SeaweedFS vs Longhorn.
Draft →
Engagement
Hands-on: SeaweedFS on RKE2 — 1-day workshop
Packaged engagement — we scope, build, and hand over with runbooks, against a specific SLA. Add to cart to request delivery; no price is billed up-front.
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AI Infrastructure · Platform Engineering · London.
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