Large-scale File System Design and Architecture

Abstract

This paper deals with design issues of a global file system, aiming to provide transparent data availability, security against loss and disclosure, and support for mobile and disconnected clients.First, the paper surveys general challenges and requirements for large-scale file systems, and then the design of particular elementary parts of the proposed file system is presented. This includes the design of the raw system architecture, the design of dynamic file replication with appropriate data consistency, file location and data security.Our proposed system is called Gaston, and will be referred further in the text under this name or its abbreviation GFS (Gaston File System).