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AMASS Overview
6-00026-01 Rev A Accessing the Storage Network 2-3
Local and
Network
Access
Because AMASS is implemented at the virtual file system
(VFS) layer of the server’s operating system, it is transparent to
other software programs on the server. Consequently, AMASS
as well as the file system mounted under AMASS can be
accessed both locally and through a network. Both paths are
discussed below.
Local Access
AMASS appears as a local, single, logical device with a single
file system encompassing the entire capacity of the library or
volume set. Because AMASS is totally transparent to local
application level software, clients can access the file system
using the same system calls that they use for standard UNIX file
systems.
Network Access
The system call transparency provided by AMASS’ VFS
implementation allows the UNIX server running AMASS to be
a server to an entire network of homogeneous or heterogeneous
systems. The networking software runs without modification on
top of AMASS so the server can run whatever networking
communication protocols and their utilities are available,
including TCP/IP-based protocols (FTP, RCP, and NFS), RFS,
DECnet, or HYPERchannel.
Typical protocols are discussed below.
Network File
System (NFS)
NFS is a facility for sharing files, resident on other machines, in
a heterogeneous environment of machines, operating systems,
and networks. NFS has become the de facto standard for
distributed file systems and is available on a broad range of
operating systems including UNIX, VMS, and MVS.