The document discusses GridFS, a specification for storing and retrieving files that are larger than the BSON-document size limit of 16MB in MongoDB. It describes how GridFS stores file data as fragments in collections and uses a separate collection to store metadata like filename, content type, and hash. This allows files to be retrieved or streamed similarly to a standard file system while taking advantage of MongoDB's features like sharding and replication. Benefits of GridFS over traditional storage methods include network access, scalability, reliability, and storing metadata that enables additional reporting and analytics capabilities.

1. GridFS
Mitch Pirtle
CTO Sounday Music
MongoTorino, 2011-10-01

2. Who?

3. Who?
Joomla! founder, OSM founder

4. Who?
Joomla! founder, OSM founder
New Yorker, moved to Torino in May 2011

5. Who?
Joomla! founder, OSM founder
New Yorker, moved to Torino in May 2011
Skateboard, snowboard, bike, bass, guitar, drums, dad

6. Who?
Joomla! founder, OSM founder
New Yorker, moved to Torino in May 2011
Skateboard, snowboard, bike, bass, guitar, drums, dad
CTO at Sounday Music

7. Who?
Joomla! founder, OSM founder
New Yorker, moved to Torino in May 2011
Skateboard, snowboard, bike, bass, guitar, drums, dad
CTO at Sounday Music
Contributor to MongoDB, evangelist for Lithium PHP
Framework

8. Who?
Joomla! founder, OSM founder
New Yorker, moved to Torino in May 2011
Skateboard, snowboard, bike, bass, guitar, drums, dad
CTO at Sounday Music
Contributor to MongoDB, evangelist for Lithium PHP
Framework
Yes, I am learning Italian :-)

9. About this presentation

10. How the web began

11. How the web began

12. How the web began
Grey pages

13. How the web began
Grey pages
Black text

14. Added some stuff...

15. Added some stuff...

16. Added some stuff...
Images

17. Added some stuff...
Images
Colored backgrounds

18. Added some stuff...
Images
Colored backgrounds
Blinking text

19. More stuff...

20. More stuff...

21. More stuff...
Javascript

22. More stuff...
Javascript
Flash

23. More stuff...
Javascript
Flash
Streaming media

24. More stuff...
Javascript
Flash
Streaming media
Social media

25. Mess!

26. All the media types
PNG MPEG
JPG OGG
GIF MP3
MOV / QT ...and so on
FLA
FLV
AVI

27. Where does all this go?

28. Approach 1: Filesystem

29. Approach 1: Filesystem
Store media locally on hard drive of webserver

30. Approach 1: Filesystem
Store media locally on hard drive of webserver
Fast access

31. Approach 1: Filesystem
Store media locally on hard drive of webserver
Fast access
Simple management

32. Approach 1: Filesystem
Store media locally on hard drive of webserver
Fast access
Simple management
Easy for code

33. Approach 2: SAN

34. Approach 2: SAN
Network access to files from N webservers

35. Approach 2: SAN
Network access to files from N webservers
Redundant

36. Approach 2: SAN
Network access to files from N webservers
Redundant
Scalable

37. Approach 2: SAN
Network access to files from N webservers
Redundant
Scalable
Hey, at least it’s not NFS

38. Approach 3: Database

39. Approach 3: Database
Easy access from application

40. Approach 3: Database
Easy access from application
Additional reporting possibilities

41. Why they all suck

42. Why they all suck
Filesystems are a pain to keep in sync
NAS are €xpen$ive
Media storage was an afterthought for databases
Databases are the hardest part to scale right?

43. New approach: GridFS

44. New approach: GridFS
Stores media in the database

45. New approach: GridFS
Stores media in the database
Access to sharding, replication

46. New approach: GridFS
Stores media in the database
Access to sharding, replication
Network access

47. New approach: GridFS
Stores media in the database
Access to sharding, replication
Network access
Documents == metadata!

48. GridFS Documentation
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/GridFS

49. It is a standard.

50. GridFS Specification
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/GridFS
+Specification

51. Why GridFS is better

52. Why GridFS: Access
Available to network
Support for many programming languages
Access parts of larger files, or stream entire file

53. Why GridFS: It’s MongoDB
MongoDB sharding == scale
Replica sets == redundancy
Slaves == reliability and performance

54. Why GridFS: Metadata

55. Why GridFS: Metadata
Separately stores metadata from actual file data

56. Why GridFS: Metadata
Separately stores metadata from actual file data
Schemaless, you can add attributes as you need

57. Why GridFS: Metadata
Separately stores metadata from actual file data
Schemaless, you can add attributes as you need
Opens new possibilities for reporting, access, analytics

58. Sho me da money!
(insert code)

59. Case study: Totsy

60. Case study: Sounday

61. Time for my favorite game
Stump the Nerd™

62. Thanks!
Email: mitch.pirtle@gmail.com
Twitter: @mitchitized
Web: http://about.me/mitchitized
Slides: slideshare.net/spacemonkeylabs