AFS Friends --
As part of Transarc's project on information discovery, the Transarc
Research Group has recently been looking at Mosaic and the "Web" as
tools for information sharing.
We have observed that many of the challenges facing Web technology
(performance, security, etc.) are similar to those for which solutions
already exist in the area of wide-area file systems.
In the hope of re-using, instead of re-inventing, a wheel, we have
created modifications to the CERN Library of Common Code that serve
to speed many Web document transfers, using available distributed file
system facilities. Of course, one of the file systems to which this
approach can be applied is AFS. (The CERN Library serves as the
foundation for building new Web clients; Mosaic is one such client.)
In short, this means that with these modifications, AFS users should
see better performance when they use the Web, for example with one of
its most popular interfaces, Mosaic.
A second note following this one provides the technical details for
implementing this facility at your site.
We would be most interested in any feedback or opinions from anyone
who chooses to take advantage of these changes. We would be
especially interested in hearing about any performance changes you may
be experiencing. Initially, please direct any such comments to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
We do wish to point out that these changes have been created and
provided as part of our wide-area research efforts, and are not a
supported Transarc product. (Comments should be directed to
[EMAIL PROTECTED], not to Transarc's support group, and no
commitment to act on any such comments should be inferred.)
For more information and background, please refer to the paper
FILE://localhost/afs/tr/public/www/Department/ARPA/Mosaic94/paper.html
Thank you.
The Transarc Research Group
