WFS

Developed by:
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, USA D. Swinehart, G. McDaniel and D. Boggs

Short Description:
WFS is a simple shared file server available to a large network community. WFS responds to a carefully limited repertoire of commands that client programs transmit over the network. The system does not utilize connections, but instead behaves like a remot e disk and reacts to page-level requests. The design emphasizes reliance upon client programs to implement the traditional facilities (stream io, a directory system, etc.) of a file system. The use of atomic commands and connectionless protocols nearly el iminates the need for WFS to maintain transitory state information from request to request. Various uses of the system are discussed and extensions are proposed to provide security and protection without violating the design principles.

Model: client/server
Properties: atomic transactions
Transparency: location, access
Running on:
Date: 1979

References:
Swinehart D., McDaniel G. and Boggs D.: "WFS: A simple shared file system for a distributed environment." In Proceedings of the 7th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, ACM, New York, 1979, pp. 105-114

Daniel Swinehart, Gene McDanie and David Boggs: "WFS: A Simple File System for a Distributed Environment". Pacific Grove, CA, USA 1979 Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA, ACM, New York, USA ix+163 pp, isbn 0-89791-009-5, Proceedings of th e 7th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, December 1979, pp. 9-17.