Name Transparency in Very Large Scale Distributed File Systems

Previous distributed le systems have relied on either convention or obtaining dynamic global agreement to provide network transparent le naming. This paper argues that neither approach can succeed as systems scale to the kind of size that is anticipated in the current decade. We propose instead a novel name mapping scheme which relies on a fragmented, selectively replicated name translation database. Updates to the naming database are coordinated by an optimistic concurrency control strategy with automatic propagation and reconciliation. A prototype of the name mapping mechanism has been implemented and is in use in the Ficus replicated le system.