Architecture

RDMA-Accelerated Object Access

Using RDMA network transport for microsecond-level object storage access within high-performance computing clusters, bypassing kernel network stacks for direct memory-to-memory data transfer.

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Summary

What it is

Using RDMA network transport for microsecond-level object storage access within high-performance computing clusters, bypassing kernel network stacks for direct memory-to-memory data transfer.

Where it fits

RDMA-accelerated access targets the performance gap between local NVMe and network-attached object storage. Within a data center cluster, RDMA can deliver object access latency approaching local disk — enabling S3-compatible storage to serve latency-sensitive AI and HPC workloads.

Misconceptions / Traps

RDMA is a data center technology. It does not work across the public internet or across typical WAN links. Benefits are limited to intra-cluster or intra-DC access.
The S3 API itself is HTTP-based and cannot use RDMA directly. RDMA acceleration typically operates at the storage backend level, beneath the S3 API layer.

Key Connections

depends_on RDMA (RoCE v2 / InfiniBand) — the transport protocol
solves Cold Scan Latency — microsecond access within clusters
scoped_to Object Storage — high-performance storage access pattern

Definition

What it is

Using RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) network transport to access object storage data with microsecond-level latency, bypassing the TCP/IP stack and CPU overhead of HTTP-based S3 access.

Why it exists

Intra-cluster data movement for erasure coding, replication, and shuffle operations dominates storage backend performance. RDMA eliminates protocol overhead for these internal data paths, dramatically increasing throughput.

Primary use cases

High-performance intra-cluster replication, erasure code reconstruction, AI/ML storage fabric, low-latency internal data paths.