Institute for Advanced Professional Studies

DFS Technical Overview

DFS Course Overview:

This course provides a technical overview of the Distributed File System (DFS). It covers the general architecture of DFS, both in terms of how it fits into a collection of interconnected computers (i.e., a DCE cell) and in terms of its operation on each local computer. Sufficient detail is provided so that the participant will understand how DFS uses caching to improve performance, how DFS uses a token-based scheme to enforce consistency, and how DFS deals with client, server and network failures. The course will conclude with a discussion of advanced local file systems, in particular DCE's LFS, which can be used in conjunction with DFS. It will explain the goals of such file systems, and how they are integrated into a DFS-equipped system.

IAPS can customize DCE training to achieve specific organizational objectives. We offer DCE training for DCE Cell and Network Administrators, Enterprise System Architects, DCE Implementors, Application Programmers (development, maintenance and migration) and Information Security Specialists.

DFS Workshop Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

Describe the general architecture of DFS
Describe the issues that must be considered in designing and implementing distributed file systems in general
Explain how these issues have been dealt with in DFS
Describe how DFS interacts with local file systems
Describe the benefits of using advanced local file systems
Explain how such advanced file systems are integrated into DFS-equipped systems

Topic Outline:

DFS Introduction
- Requirements for Distributed File Systems
- Distributed File System Design Considerations
- DFS Design Goals
- DFS Architecture
- User and Administrator Views
- Comparison with NFS
- Path Names and Mount Points
Overview of Relevant Parts of DCE
- Threads
- Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
- CDS
- Security
DFS
- VFS+
- Token and Cache Management
- Coping with Client, Server, and Communication Failures
- Interaction with Other DCE Services
  - dfsbind process
  - Kernel RPC
- Fileset Location Database
- Replication and Backup Support
Advanced Local File Systems
- Using Transaction-Logging to Speed Crash Recovery
- Cloning
- Extended Attributes
- Overview of Episode

Course Duration:

1 day

Intended Audience:

Programmers and technical managers who wish to learn about how DFS is implemented

Technical Prerequisites:

Experience with operating system internals. Knowledge of how NFS works is very helpful.

Course Format:

Interactive lecture/workshop