Discovering Comparing Network File Systems: NFS Dependencies
- XDR (External Data Representation):
- What is XDR: Data representation protocol for cross-platform compatibility.
- Who Implements: Network Stack.
- Why XDR:
- Platform independence.
- Endianness considerations.
- Network transparency.
- In essence: While a simple send-receive approach might work on a homogeneous environment with identical architectures and data representations, XDR enhances NFS’s interoperability by providing a standardized, platform-independent data format for communication over heterogeneous networks.
- RPC (Remote Procedure Call):
- What is RPC: Protocol for executing code on a remote server as if it were a local procedure call.
- Who Implements: NFS itself relies on RPC for communication.
- Why RPC:
- Abstraction of remote operations.
- Standardized interface for remote procedure calls.
- Supports network transparency.
- In essence: RPC enables NFS clients to invoke procedures on remote servers seamlessly, abstracting the complexities of network communication.
- NFS Lock Manager (NLM) Protocol:
- What is NLM: Protocol for managing file locks across multiple clients accessing a shared file system.
- Who Implements: NFS clients and servers typically implement the NLM protocol.
- Why NLM:
- Coordination of file access in a shared environment.
- Prevention of data corruption from concurrent writes.
- Support for different types of locks (shared, exclusive).
- In essence: NLM facilitates coordination among NFS clients by managing file locks, ensuring data consistency and preventing conflicts.
