<s>
The	O
CXFS	B-Application
file	O
system	O
(	O
Clustered	O
XFS	B-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
proprietary	B-Application
shared	O
disk	O
file	O
system	O
designed	O
by	O
Silicon	O
Graphics	O
(	O
SGI	O
)	O
specifically	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
storage	O
area	O
network	O
(	O
SAN	O
)	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
significant	O
difference	O
between	O
CXFS	B-Application
and	O
other	O
distributed	O
file	O
systems	O
is	O
that	O
data	O
and	O
metadata	O
are	O
managed	O
separately	O
from	O
each	O
other	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CXFS	B-Application
provides	O
direct	O
access	O
to	O
data	O
via	O
the	O
SAN	O
for	O
all	O
hosts	O
which	O
will	O
act	O
as	O
clients	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
means	O
that	O
a	O
client	O
is	O
able	O
to	O
access	O
file	O
data	O
via	O
the	O
fiber	O
connection	O
to	O
the	O
SAN	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
over	O
a	O
local	B-General_Concept
area	I-General_Concept
network	I-General_Concept
such	O
as	O
Ethernet	O
(	O
as	O
is	O
the	O
case	O
in	O
most	O
other	O
distributed	O
file	O
systems	O
,	O
like	O
NFS	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Though	O
CXFS	B-Application
supports	O
having	O
a	O
heterogeneous	O
environment	O
(	O
including	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
,	O
AIX	B-Application
and	O
Windows	B-Application
)	O
,	O
either	O
SGI	O
's	O
IRIX	B-Operating_System
Operating	O
System	O
or	O
Linux	B-Application
is	O
required	O
to	O
be	O
installed	O
on	O
the	O
host	O
which	O
acts	O
as	O
the	O
metadata	O
broker	O
.	O
</s>
