A large-scale storage system is provided. The large-scale system includes a plurality of compute nodes; a plurality of storage nodes; and a communication fabric for providing a communication infrastructure between the plurality of compute nodes and the plurality of storage nodes; wherein each compute node of the plurality of compute nodes is configured to independently perform at least a storage operation on any of the storage nodes in a persistent manner, and wherein each storage node of the plurality of storage nodes provides physical storage space of the large-scale storage system.