# Metadata engine

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Metadata_engine
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Metadata_engine.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata_engine
> Source revision: 1330058098
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Software that collects, stores and analyzes information about data and metadata

A **metadata engine** collects, stores, and analyzes information about [data](/source/Data) and [metadata](/source/Metadata) (data about data) in use within a [knowledge domain](/source/Knowledge_domain).[1] It [virtualizes](/source/Virtualization) the view of data for an application by separating the data (physical) path from the metadata (logical) path so that data management can be performed independently of where the data physically resides. This expands the domain beyond a single storage device to span all devices within its [namespace](/source/Namespace).

The main use of a metadata engine is to enable flexible IT infrastructure or environments by making [applications](/source/Application_software) more storage aware and conversely, a [storage device](/source/Data_storage) application or data aware.

## Purpose

Metadata engines virtualize the view of data. Combined with client access protocols, such as [NFS v4.2](/source/Network_File_System#NFSv4) and [SMB](/source/Server_Message_Block) 2.1 or SMB 3.0 (Samba), a metadata engine can create a global namespace to allow applications to see a logical view of their data and can orchestrate data movement between different types or tiers of storage without disrupting the application's access to its data.[2]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Kendall, Aaron. ["Metadata-Driven Design: Designing a Flexible Engine for API Data Retrieval"](https://www.infoq.com/articles/mdd-api-data-retrieval). *InfoQ*. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Flynn, David (16 March 2017). ["Supercharge Your Existing Storage with a Metadata Engine"](http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2017/03/16/supercharge-existing-storage-metadata-engine/). *Data Center Knowledge*. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

[Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals):
- [Computer programming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Computer_programming)
- [Internet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Internet)
- [Mathematics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Mathematics)
- [Science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Science)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Metadata engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata_engine) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metadata_engine?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.