Automatic Rebalancing

Automatic rebalancing is a fundamental feature of distributed data storage systems designed to maintain an even distribution of data across storage nodes. This process ensures optimal performance, prevents resource overutilization, and enhances system resilience by dynamically redistributing data in response to changes in cluster topology or workload patterns.

In a distributed storage system, data is typically spread across multiple storage nodes for redundancy, scalability, and performance. Over time, various factors can lead to an imbalance in data distribution, such as:

• The addition of new storage nodes, which initially lack any data.
• The removal or failure of existing nodes, requiring data redistribution to maintain availability.
• The equal distribution of data across storage nodes.

Automatic rebalancing addresses these issues by dynamically redistributing data across the cluster. This process is driven by an algorithm that continuously monitors data distribution and redistributes data when imbalances are detected. The goal is to achieve uniform data placement while minimizing performance overhead during the rebalancing process.