Enhancing host to network coupling via horizontal integration of network protocols and the file system.

Abstract

Computer technology has grown at a pace unrivaled by that of any other technology in history. Coupled with an almost equally fast paced growth in communications technology, computer systems have changed from isolated islands of computing into interconnected clusters of information generation, processing and consumption. This reality has led to ever increasing interest in distributing all aspects of computing in such a way as to make the physical separation of computer systems transparent to the users of those systems. An important target of these attempts is the file system. Many distributed file systems exist and are used extensively. However, they do not achieve the ultimate in transparency and distribution. This dissertation introduces a new paradigm for distributing the file system in which location transparency is extended to the lowest levels of the file system and achieves a greater degree of distribution than exists under the current paradigm. This new paradigm reorients the relationship between the file system and the network system. The paradigm and its implications are described, along with performance testing of basic file operations using a prototype of the file system. Although the operations of the prototype file system were found to be 4 to 10 times slower than the most comparable operations using conventional FTP operations, the testing indicated that it is feasible to implement a file system based on the new paradigm.