WWFS: a framework for distributing information in the Internet environment

A new framework for distributing information in the large scale, heterogeneous distributed computing environment is presented. It is argued that traditional methods for distributing information have several shortcomings, and that existing distributed file systems do not provide a suitable access model, heterogeneity, or scalability for this application area. A framework is presented to accomplish these goals with a protocol architecture and the notion of a cluster server. The burden of administrative tasks for distributing information is eliminated, and the amount of duplicate file transfer is reduced