A distributed file system is a file system where a file is divided into blocks and is distributed across a network of machines (data nodes). A distributed file system consists of data and name nodes.
A data node stores the data.
A [name node](2501181855#Name Node) is acts as a master node and is responsible for:
- metadata storing and lookup
- data replication
- deciding where a new file gets stored
- instructs the client and data nodes