Name transparency in very large scale distributed file systems

Abstract

Previous distributed file systems have relied either on convention or on obtaining dynamic global agreement to provide network transparent file naming. The authors argue that neither approach can succeed as systems scale to the kind of size that is anticipated in the current decade. They propose instead a novel name-mapping scheme which relies on a fragmented, selectively replicated name translation database. Updates to the naming database are coordinated by an optimistic concurrency control strategy with automatic propagation and reconciliation. A prototype of the name-mapping mechanism has been implemented and is in use in the Ficus replicated file system.