Low-latency lightweight distributed storage system

A computer system for facilitating a distributed storage system, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
• generating a data segment from a data file associated with a write operation;
• determining whether a user-defined storage path is specified for the data segment;
• in response to determining that a user-defined storage path is not specified for the data segment, determining a storage key for the data segment, wherein the storage key corresponds to a storage path that indicates a target storage location of a respective replica of the data segment;
• in response to determining that a user-defined storage path is specified for the data segment, obtaining the storage path from a local read cache, or in response to a cache miss, from a monitor server of the distributed storage system based on metadata of the data segment;
• and
• generating a data packet comprising the data segment, wherein a destination for the data packet corresponds to a target disk specified by the storage path.