The objectizer process

The objectization process converts files ingested from the file interface on unified file and access enabled container path to be available from the object interface. The name of the service that does this is ibmobjectizer.

When new files are added from the file interface, they need to be visible to the Swift database to show correct container listing and container or account statistics.

The ibmobjectizer service ensures synchronization between the file metadata and the object metadata at predefined time interval that ensures accurate container and account listing. The ibmobjectizer service identifies new files added from the file interface and adds the Swift system metadata to them so that they are objectized. The ibmobjectizer service then determines its container and account databases and adds a new object entry to those. It also identifies files deleted from file interface and deletes their corresponding entries from container and account databases.

This is particularly useful in setups where data is ingested using legacy file interface based devices such as medical and scientific devices and it needs to be stored and accessed over cloud using the object interface.

The ibmobjectizer service is a singleton and it is started when object is enabled and the file-access object capability is set. However, the ibmobjectizer service starts objectization only when there are containers with unified file and object access storage policies configured and the file-access object capability is set.

To identify the node on which the ibmobjectizer service is running, use the mmces service list --verbose command.

Attention: If object services on the singleton node are stopped by the administrator manually, objectization is stopped across the cluster. Therefore, manually stopping services on a singleton node must be planned carefully after understanding its impact.

For information on limitations on the objectizer process, see Limitations of unified file and object access.