research-article

RFS: a network file system for mobile devices and the cloud

Authors:

Michael P. Mesnier,

Sun C. ChanAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review, Volume 45, Issue 1

Pages 101 - 111

https://doi.org/10.1145/1945023.1945036

Published: 18 February 2011 Publication History

Abstract

Due to the increasing number of applications (and their data) being placed on mobile devices, access to dependable storage is becoming a key issue in mobile system design -- and cloud storage is becoming an attractive solution. However, this introduces a number of new issues related to unpredictable wireless network connectivity and data privacy over the network.

In this article we present RFS, a wireless-friendly network file system for mobile devices and the cloud. RFS provides deviceaware cache management and client-driven data security and privacy protection. We implement the RFS client in the Linux kernel and the RFS server with Amazon S3 cloud storage, and we employ two new optimizations: server prepush (a server-side data pre-fetching mechanism) and client reintegration (synchronizing a mobile device's cache with the cloud).

The empirical results over wired, WiFi and 3G networks show that RFS achieves good performance compared to Coda and FScache, and it reduces network activity visibly. Further, the privacy overhead is acceptable when RFS is run over wireless networks. We present a case study of booting Android over RFS, thereby demonstrating the ability for RFS to host a full mobile system. Overall, RFS can deliver a good user experience under undependable network conditions, allowing mobile users to seamlessly, and safely, use the cloud for data storage.

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Cited By

Li HLi WLv YLiu JYang LShi L(2024)EEPC: Energy-Efficient Persistent Cache Scheme for Mobile Distributed File SystemsIEEE Internet of Things Journal10.1109/JIOT.2024.335067411:9(15998-16008)Online publication date: 1-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2024.3350674
Dai YZhang QYang L(2021)Virtual Machine Migration Strategy Based on Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement LearningApplied Sciences10.3390/app1117799311:17(7993)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2021
https://doi.org/10.3390/app11177993
Paiker NShan JBorcea CGehani NCurtmola RDing X(2020)Design and Implementation of an Overlay File System for Cloud-Assisted Mobile AppsIEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing10.1109/TCC.2017.27631588:1(97-111)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/TCC.2017.2763158
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

RFS: a network file system for mobile devices and the cloud
1. General and reference
  1. Cross-computing tools and techniques
    1. Metrics
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software organization and properties
    1. Contextual software domains
      1. Operating systems
        File systems management

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review

ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review Volume 45, Issue 1

January 2011

160 pages

ISSN:0163-5980

DOI:10.1145/1945023

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2011 Authors.

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 18 February 2011

Published in SIGOPS Volume 45, Issue 1

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Cited By

Li HLi WLv YLiu JYang LShi L(2024)EEPC: Energy-Efficient Persistent Cache Scheme for Mobile Distributed File SystemsIEEE Internet of Things Journal10.1109/JIOT.2024.335067411:9(15998-16008)Online publication date: 1-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2024.3350674
Dai YZhang QYang L(2021)Virtual Machine Migration Strategy Based on Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement LearningApplied Sciences10.3390/app1117799311:17(7993)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2021
https://doi.org/10.3390/app11177993
Paiker NShan JBorcea CGehani NCurtmola RDing X(2020)Design and Implementation of an Overlay File System for Cloud-Assisted Mobile AppsIEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing10.1109/TCC.2017.27631588:1(97-111)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/TCC.2017.2763158
Scotece DPaiker NFoschini LBellavista PDing XBorcea C(2019)MEFS: Mobile Edge File System for Edge-Assisted Mobile Apps2019 IEEE 20th International Symposium on "A World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks" (WoWMoM)10.1109/WoWMoM.2019.8792987(1-9)Online publication date: Jun-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/WoWMoM.2019.8792987
Monga SRamachandra SSimmhan Y(2019)ElfStore: A Resilient Data Storage Service for Federated Edge and Fog Resources2019 IEEE International Conference on Web Services (ICWS)10.1109/ICWS.2019.00062(336-345)Online publication date: Jul-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICWS.2019.00062
Hou BChen F(2017)GDS-LCACM Transactions on Storage10.1145/314937413:4(1-33)Online publication date: 24-Nov-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3149374
Hou BChen FOu ZWang RMesnier M(2017)Understanding I/O Performance Behaviors of Cloud Storage from a Client’s PerspectiveACM Transactions on Storage10.1145/307883813:2(1-36)Online publication date: 22-May-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3078838
Collins RGelles TMarks BSimms AWebb K(2017)STOIC: Streaming operating systems in the cloud2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)10.1109/ICC.2017.7996824(1-6)Online publication date: May-2017
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICC.2017.7996824
Shan JPaiker NDing XGehani NCurtmola RBorcea C(2016)An Overlay File System for cloud-assisted mobile applications2016 32nd Symposium on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies (MSST)10.1109/MSST.2016.7897093(1-14)Online publication date: 2016
https://doi.org/10.1109/MSST.2016.7897093
Binbing Hou Chen FOu ZWang RMesnier M(2016)Understanding I/O performance behaviors of cloud storage from a client's perspective2016 32nd Symposium on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies (MSST)10.1109/MSST.2016.7897089(1-12)Online publication date: 2016
https://doi.org/10.1109/MSST.2016.7897089
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