Abstract

Network file systems provide access to data in a networked environment. If such systems operate in a client-server (C/S) mode, e.g., NFS (Network File System) or SMB (Server Message Block), issues concerning the scalability, the presence of a single point of failure, and fault tolerance emerge. Scalability issues, such as coping with an increasing number of clients, need to be addressed, since bandwidth on the server side may be limited and expensive. Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are, in contrast to C/S systems, fault-tolerant, robust, and scalable. Distributed file systems based on P2P networks can help to avoid such problems. Besides, P2P systems are self-organizing, requiring less management, thus reducing maintenance costs.