NFS-CD: Write-Enabled Cooperative Caching in NFS

We present the Network File System with Cluster Delegation (NFS-CD), an enhancement to the NFSv4 that reduces server load and increases the scalability of distributed file systems in computing clusters. The cluster delegation feature of NFS-CD allows data sharing among clients by extending the NFSv4 delegation model so that multiple clients manage a single file without interacting with the server. Based on cluster delegation, we implement a fast-commit primitive, cooperative caching, and the ability to recover the uncommitted updates of a failed computer. NFS-CD supports both read and write operations in the cooperative cache without degrading the consistency model of NFSv4. We have implemented NFS-CD by modifying the Linux NFSv4 client only. Because the server remains unchanged, NFS-CD preserves the simple administration model of NFSv4 and interoperates with standard NFS clients. NFS-CD offers improved performance when compared to NFSv4 at the expense of slightly weaker reliability gu...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: TPDS
• Authors: Alexandros Batsakis, Randal C. Burns
• Keywords: Cluster Delegation, File Systems, NFSv4, TPDS 2008