Re: Is there a NFS alternative?

[Chris Jones <jonesc hep phy cam ac uk>]

> If you actually get to the fast computer over the internet (ssh or 
> something) and build something off an NFS mount from your local machine, 
> then there's a good chance that the latency in reading and writing files 
> on the NFS share will far outweigh the faster processor on the remote 
> machine, in which case you'll be better off building from your local 
> machine, even if it is slower. (disclaimer: i don't know what kind of 
> connection you have to the internet).

AFS is quite good in this regard, in that it transparently maintains a 
file cache on the local machine. If files don't change, they aren't 
re-read from the main server. Changes are sync'ed back transparently as 
well.

I have used this very effectively in a work environment.

Chris