Source URL: https://blog.astradot.com/s3-express-append-has-issues/
Source: Hacker News
Title: S3 Express Append has issues
Feedly Summary: Comments
AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The text discusses the recent updates to AWS S3 Express, particularly its append functionality, and compares it with EBS disks in handling data consistency within distributed systems. Professionals in AI, cloud, and infrastructure security should note the implications of appending data in distributed systems and the potential consistency challenges it introduces.
Detailed Description: This text provides an in-depth look at the operational complexities and potential pitfalls surrounding the append functionality introduced in AWS S3 Express and its comparison with EBS disks. Here are the major points of discussion:
– **AWS S3 Express vs. EBS Disks**:
– AWS S3 Express is evolving to be an alternative to Elastic Block Store (EBS), allowing appending to existing objects.
– EBS requires explicit mounting and unmounting to avoid simultaneous writes, ensuring data consistency.
– **Challenges with S3 Express Append Functionality**:
– The append functionality can lead to data inconsistency in distributed systems.
– When multiple nodes (e.g., Node A and Node B) are able to append to the same object, conflicts may arise that lead to invalid data.
– If Node A is appending while Node B writes to another object, determined by a leader election process, inconsistencies can occur if Node A attempts to write an object after being partitioned.
– **Data Lakehouse Protocols**:
– Existing protocols like Delta Lake mitigate consistency issues by ensuring each write is treated as a new object incrementing a counter.
– The put-if-absent primitive is used to manage concurrent writes, providing a mechanism to reject conflicting writes.
– **Possible Solutions and Improvements**:
– The text suggests that for append to work effectively, AWS may need to implement lease-based controls per prefix to manage write access.
– This would create a controlled queuing model for nodes that need to access a given prefix, preventing bad data from being written due to timing conflicts.
– **Cost Implications**:
– Despite the introduction of appending functionality, it does not inherently reduce costs since it still involves PUT call charges.
– Possible benefits lie in reduced code complexity and resource savings from system operations.
– **Current Use Cases**:
– As of now, the append functionality in S3 Express is limited in application and may not significantly simplify operations related to data management in distributed systems.
– The text indicates a cautious approach to adopting the append feature until its reliability and consistency can be assured.
In summary, the discussion around AWS S3 Express highlights important considerations for those involved in cloud infrastructure design, particularly how new features can introduce complexity and challenges that may affect data consistency and operational efficiency.