Longhorn vs Peer Global File Service

Longhorn is a free, open-source distributed block storage system for Kubernetes. It replicates storage across nodes and data centers to increase availability, with V1 replicated, V2 replicated and V2 sharded with erasure coding volume types. Teams can schedule recurring snapshots and backups to NFS or S3-compatible secondary storage, and create disaster recovery volumes for recovery in a second Kubernetes cluster. A GUI dashboard is included, and the management UI is described as free. The software stack can be upgraded without disrupting running storage volumes. Installation options include kubectl, Helm, Fleet, Flux and ArgoCD. Longhorn supports mTLS for securing and encrypting gRPC communication between its control and data planes, but mTLS is disabled by default. Components need root access with privileged permissions for volume operations and management. Backups require an NFSv4 client, while ReadWriteMany volumes require NFSv4.1. Longhorn runs on Linux and supports API, web and self-hosted use. It is a CNCF incubating project; SUSE Storage is described as a Longhorn-based distribution with additional support, security, lifecycle management and certified integrations.

Peer Global File Service (PeerGFS) replicates, manages, and synchronizes files across sites, platforms, clouds, and storage systems. It sends changes in real time for active-active file sharing, uses distributed file locking to help prevent conflicts, and transfers changed data rather than whole files through delta-level replication. The product supports SMB and NFS workloads and lists Windows and Linux file servers, NetApp, Nutanix Files, Dell systems, and cloud targets including S3 and Azure Blob. Microsoft DFS Namespaces can unify SMB access across sites and support failover and failback. Security descriptions include SSL-encrypted traffic up to AES-256, role-based controls through Active Directory, and monitoring for suspicious file activity. The product also lists local caching, edge synchronization, metadata and access preservation, cutover orchestration, and migration reporting. Capabilities depend on configuration: edge caching is limited to Windows file servers, and NFS supports only replication and synchronization jobs. Pricing is available on request. A trial request includes a guided proof of concept with the pre-sales team. Peer Software says it began in 1993.