pNFS


Short for parallel Network File System, pNFS is a protocol extension of NFS 4.1, the first major performance upgrade to the widely deployed NFS in more than a decade. pNFS provides parallel I/O to file systems accessible over NFS to eliminate performance bottlenecks. With pNFS clients can directly access storage devices in parallel.

metadata processing. pNFS moves the metadata server out of the data transfer path, boosting performance by allowing multiple disk drives to serve up data in parallel. pNFS let’s storage administrators do things, such as stripe a single file across multiple NFS servers (essentially the same as RAID0), which boosts performance by allowing multiple disk drives to serve up data in parallel. pNFS takes this concept and extends it to multiple storage devices connected to the NFS client over a network.

Read Also:

  • Packet

    (pak´it) (n.) A piece of a message transmitted over a packet-switching network. See under packet switching. One of the key features of a packet is that it contains the destination address in addition to the data. In IP networks, packets are often called datagrams.

  • packet buffer

    (pak´et buf´&r) (n.) Memory space that is set aside specifically for either storing a packet that is awaiting transmission over a network or storing a packet that has been received over a network. The memory space is either located in the network interface card or in the computer that holds the card.

  • packet collision

    In a network, when two or more stations attempt to transmit a packet across the network at the same time, a packet collision occurs. This is not uncommon in a shared medium such as an Ethernet that has many computers in the same network segment. When a packet collision occurs, the packets are either discarded […]

  • packet collision rate

    The amount of packet collisions that occur in a network in a specified time period, usually one minute. The packet collision rate is typically monitored by the router.

  • packet filtering

    Also referred to as static packet filtering. Controlling access to a network by analyzing the incoming and outgoing packets and letting them pass or halting them based on the IP addresses of the source and destination. Packet filtering is one technique, among many, for implementing security firewalls. Compare with stateful inspection.


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