MinIO files, technically referred to as objects, are stored on the underlying storage infrastructure where the MinIO server is deployed. MinIO is a high-performance, distributed object storage system that abstracts the physical storage, organizing these objects within buckets.
Understanding MinIO's Storage Model
MinIO's architecture is based on the concept of object storage, similar to Amazon S3. Instead of traditional file systems with directories and files, MinIO uses:
- Objects: These are the fundamental units of storage in MinIO, equivalent to files. An object can be anything from a document or image to a video or database backup.
- Buckets: Buckets serve as containers for organizing objects. They function similarly to folders or directories in a traditional filesystem, allowing users to group related objects. Each bucket can hold an arbitrary number of objects.
This model means that while you interact with MinIO through buckets and objects, the actual data resides on the physical disks or volumes provided to the MinIO instances.
Physical Storage Location
The physical storage location for MinIO objects depends entirely on how and where the MinIO server software is deployed:
- On-Premises Deployments: If MinIO is deployed on your own hardware, objects are stored on the local hard drives (HDDs or SSDs) of the servers or virtual machines (VMs) running MinIO. These could be:
- Direct-Attached Storage (DAS): Disks directly connected to the MinIO server nodes.
- Network-Attached Storage (NAS): Shared storage accessible over a network.
- Storage Area Networks (SAN): Block-level storage accessed by the servers.
- Cloud Deployments: When MinIO is deployed in a cloud environment (e.g., AWS EC2, Google Cloud Compute Engine, Azure VMs), objects are stored on the cloud's block storage services (e.g., Amazon EBS volumes, Google Persistent Disks, Azure Managed Disks) attached to the virtual machines running MinIO.
- Kubernetes Deployments: In a Kubernetes environment, MinIO typically uses persistent volumes (PVs) and persistent volume claims (PVCs) to store its data. These PVs can map to various underlying storage types, including:
- Local host paths
- Network File System (NFS) shares
- Cloud provider block storage (via respective CSI drivers)
- Dedicated storage arrays
MinIO leverages distributed object storage capabilities, meaning data can be spread across multiple drives, servers, or nodes for enhanced performance, scalability, and resilience. It uses techniques like erasure coding to protect data against disk or node failures, ensuring data availability and integrity even if some components become unavailable.
Deployment Environments and Storage Examples
The versatility of MinIO allows it to be deployed across a wide range of environments, each utilizing different underlying storage configurations:
| Deployment Environment | Typical Storage Backend(s) | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Bare Metal/VMs | Direct-Attached Storage (HDDs/SSDs), NFS, iSCSI | High performance, direct control over hardware |
| Kubernetes | Persistent Volumes (PVs) mapped to local paths, NFS, Cloud Block Storage, Storage Class Provisioners | Containerized, scalable, uses Kubernetes' storage abstraction |
| Edge Computing | Local SSDs/NVMe, smaller DAS configurations | Optimized for low-latency and localized data processing |
Regardless of the specific deployment model, MinIO fundamentally acts as a software layer that manages, organizes, and protects the objects stored on the designated disks or volumes. It transforms generic commodity hardware or cloud block storage into a high-performance object storage solution.
