EclipFS is a distributed file system built for WAN
- WAN connections are slow (only 5mbit/s upload is fine). Replication should not consume too much bandwidth and only happen with no other filesystem activity. No unnecessary rebalancing of data like other LAN distributed filesystems do.
- Chunkservers (the part of the network that stores data) should be able to disappear without affecting data integrity and uptime
- The filesystem should store checksums to verify data has not been altered on disk, accidentally or intentionally.
- For ease of use, allow secure operation over the internet without a VPN.
- No fine grained user-based permissions system to allow for simpler code with better performance. All clients can access all data. Global write access is configurable per user.
- Chunkservers are trusted to not be malicious (perform denial of service attacks etc) but only somewhat trusted to keep data safe. Data is encrypted client-side using AES-128-CFB with a shared key before being sent to chunk servers.