Serverless Network File Systems
Thomas E. Anderson, Michael D. Dahlin, Jeanna M. Neefe,
David A. Patterson, Drew S. Roselli, and Randolph Y. Wang
Computer Science Division
University of California at Berkeley
Abstract
In this paper, we propose a new paradigm for network file
system design, serverless network file systems. While tradi
tional network file systems rely on a central server machine,
a serverless system utilizes workstations cooperating as
peers to provide all file system services. Any machine in the
system can store, cache, or control any block of data. Our
approach uses this location independence, in combination
with fast local area networks, to provide better performance
and scalability than traditional file systems. Further, because
any machine in the system can assume the responsibilities
of a failed component, our serverless design also provides
high availability via redundant data storage. To demonstrate
our approach, we have implemented a prototype serverless
network file system called xFS. Preliminary performance
measurements suggest that our architecture achieves its goal
of scalability. For instance, in a 32-node xFS system with 32
active clients, each client receives nearly as much read or
write throughput as it would see if it were the only active
client.
Postscript of most recent version of paper.
Postscript of SOSP'95 paper.
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