Management of Replicated Volume Location Data in the Ficus Replicated File System.
Thomas W. Page, Richard G. Guy, John Heidemann, Gerald J. Popek, Wai Ho Mak, Dieter Rothmeier · 1991
Existing techniques to provide name transparency in distributed file systems have been designed for modest scale systems, and do not readily extend to very large configurations. This paper details the approach which is now operational in the Ficus replicated Unix filing environment, and shows how it differs from other methods currently in use. The Ficus mechanism permits optimistic management of the volume location data by exploiting the existing directory reconciliation algorithms which merge directory updates made during network partition. 1 Introduction Most Unix file system implementations separate the maintenance of name binding data into two levels: within a volume (or filesystem), directory entries bind names to low-level identifiers (such as inodes); a second mechanism is used to form a super-tree by "gluing" the set of volumes to each other. The traditional Unix volume super-tree connection mechanism has been widely altered or replaced to support both small and large scale d...