Thomas E. Anderson and Michael D. Dahlin and Jeanna M. Neefe and Drew S. Roselli and Randolph Y. Wang and David A. Patterson

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/CSD-98-983

, 1998

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1998/CSD-98-983.pdf

In this paper, we propose a new paradigm for network file system design, serverless network file systems. While traditional 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.

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BibTeX citation:

@techreport{Anderson:CSD-98-983,
    Author= {Anderson, Thomas E. and Dahlin, Michael D. and Neefe, Jeanna M. and Roselli, Drew S. and Wang, Randolph Y. and Patterson, David A.},
    Title= {Serverless Network File Systems},
    Year= {1998},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1998/5434.html},
    Number= {UCB/CSD-98-983},
    Abstract= {In this paper, we propose a new paradigm for network file system design, serverless network file systems. While traditional 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.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Report
%A Anderson, Thomas E. 
%A Dahlin, Michael D. 
%A Neefe, Jeanna M. 
%A Roselli, Drew S. 
%A Wang, Randolph Y. 
%A Patterson, David A. 
%T Serverless Network File Systems
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 1998
%@ UCB/CSD-98-983
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1998/5434.html
%F Anderson:CSD-98-983