A comparison of two approaches to build reliable distributed file servers

Anupam Bhide*, Elmootazbellah N. Elnozahy, Stephen P. Morgan, Alex Siegel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Several existing distributed file systems provide reliability by server replication. An alternative approach is to use dual-ported disks accessible to a server and a backup. The two approaches are compared by examining an example of each. Deceit is a replicated file server that emphasizes flexibility. HA-NFS is an example of the second approach that emphasizes efficiency and simplicity. The two file servers run on the same hardware and implement SUN's NFS protocol. The comparison shows that replicated servers are more flexible and tolerant of a wider variety of faults. On the other hand, the dual-ported disks approach is more efficient and simpler to implement. When tolerating single failure, dual-ported disks also give somewhat better availability.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems
Editors Anon
PublisherPubl by IEEE
Pages616-623
Number of pages8
ISBN (Print)0818621443
StatePublished - May 1991
Externally publishedYes
EventProceedings of the 11th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems - Arlington, TX, USA
Duration: May 20 1991May 24 1991

Publication series

NameProceedings - International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems

Other

OtherProceedings of the 11th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems
CityArlington, TX, USA
Period05/20/9105/24/91

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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