Holographic File System for a Multicomputer with Many Disk Nodes

摘要

Future computing systems may involve thousands of networked general-purpose computers, without shared memory or shared devices. The operating system for such a configuration must be completely distributed, and it must tolerate the random disappearance and reappearance of nodes, possibly with obsolete control information and/or data. Traditional file systems are not equipped to satisfy these requirements. A holographic file system (HFS) is presented for concurrent data retrieval in a computer system with a large number of disks (although it is probable that most nodes will be diskless). In such a file system it is possible to operate on a file by simultaneously utilizing many (or all) of the disks, since the file system is organized to take advantage of the multiplicity of equipment, rather than limiting access to a single disk for each file, as in most existing file systems. The main advantages of the HFS are a speed-up in data retrieval related to the number of disks, and improved availability by allowing access to parts of a file even when other parts of that file are not accessible. Keywords: Distributed file system; Holographic file system; Interleaved file system; File servers; File system organization; Diskless workstations; Distributed systems. (jhd)