From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Matthew Wilcox Subject: Re: Communicating FileSystem Structures b/w Two Machines Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 07:32:57 -0600 Message-ID: <20060410133257.GD9955@parisc-linux.org> References: <20060410061146.89260.qmail@web37915.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org Return-path: Received: from palinux.external.hp.com ([192.25.206.14]:56454 "EHLO palinux.hppa") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751102AbWDJNdA (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Apr 2006 09:33:00 -0400 To: UZAIR LAKHANI Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20060410061146.89260.qmail@web37915.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Sender: linux-fsdevel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-fsdevel.vger.kernel.org On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 11:11:46PM -0700, UZAIR LAKHANI wrote: > I am in the process of making a filesystem in a > client/server environment where there is a single > server having a storage attached and 2 to 3 clients > accessing that storage through a communication > mechanism. The client and server are using a > buffer(unsigned char array) to communicate. > > In order for client and server to communicate, they > have to exchange different structures like > super-block, inode, dentry, vfsmount etc. Why on earth do you think that? Certainly you have to communicate file data and metadata, but why on earth would you ship dentries from one machine to another? This will never work. You should probably look at how other network filesystems are designed, starting with NFS: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1094.html What are your research goals for this new filesystem? Why will it be any better than OCFS2, NFS (v2 or v4), SMBFS/CIFS, NCPFS, Coda or AFS? Why don't you start by taking one of these filesystems and modify or extend it to suit your needs rather than starting from scratch?