[Info-vax] New filesystem mentioned

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 5/13/2019 5:37 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 5/13/2019 2:36 PM, Michael Moroney wrote:
>> Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
>>> There's a reason (multiple reasons actually) why so many operating
>>> systems now support ZFS.
>>
>>> Unfortunately, VMS isn't likely to be one of them, given the lack
>>> of support in VMS for modular plugin filesystems. That means adding
>>> ZFS to VMS would be a major job.
>>
>> If I recall, A mentioned that ZFS and other file systems lacked the 
>> cluster support
>> needed for clusterwide operation that VMS needs, and would require 
>> mega rototilling
>> to add it. I don't know the details.
>>
> 
> An interesting statement.
> 
> I'm wondering what would be required in the filesystem to support VMS 
> clustering?
> 
> Not that I'm an expert on VMS clusters, but it has been my impression 
> that the OS did all the work.  But what do I know?

The answer must depend a lot on what is meant by "file system".

I do not think there is anything in the on disk bytes that
are relevant for clustering.

The code that does the physical transfer of data between
disk and memory should not have anything relevant for
clustering.

But there are some higher level code that need cluster
awareness. At least code that checks if a file being
opened is already in use on another node. And much more
to support effective locking of records and byte ranges
in cluster environment.

Arne