Distributed File Systems (dfs)
------------------------------

 Charter
 Last Modified: 1993-06-18

 Current Status: Concluded Working Group

 Chair(s):
     Peter Honeyman  <honey@citi.umich.edu>

 Service Applications Area Director(s):
     Dave Crocker  <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>

 Service Applications Area Advisor:
     Dave Crocker  <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>

 Mailing Lists: 
     General Discussion:dfs-wg@citi.umich.edu
     To Subscribe:      dfs-wg-request@citi.umich.edu
     Archive:           

Description of Working Group:

Trans- and inter-continental distributed file systems are upon us.  The 
consequences to the Internet of distributed file system protocol design and 
implementation decisions are sufficiently dire that we need to investigate 
whether the protocols being deployed are really suitable for use on the 
Internet.  There's some evidence that the opposite is true, e.g., some 
distributed file systems protocols don't checksum their data,
don't use reasonable MTUs, don't offer credible authentication or
authorization services, don't attempt to avoid congestion, etc.
Accordingly, a Working Group on DFS has been formed by the IETF. The
Working Group will attempt to define guidelines for ways that distributed file
systems should make use of the network, and to consider whether any
existing distributed file systems are appropriate candidates for
Internet standardization.  The Working Group will also take a look at the 
various file system protocols to see whether they make data more vulnerable.
This is a problem that is especially severe for Internet users, and a
place where the IETF may wish to exert some influence, both on vendor
offerings and user expectations.


 Goals and Milestones:

   MAY 90       Generate an RFC with guidelines that define appropriate 
                behavior of distributed file systems in an internet 
                environment. 


 Internet-Drafts:

  No Current Internet-Drafts.

 Request For Comments:

  None to date.