<s>
A	O
grid	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
is	O
a	O
computer	O
file	O
system	O
whose	O
goal	O
is	O
improved	O
reliability	O
and	O
availability	O
by	O
taking	O
advantage	O
of	O
many	O
smaller	O
file	O
storage	O
areas	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
File	B-Application
table	I-Application
(	O
FAT	O
table	O
,	O
MFT	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
grid	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
would	O
have	O
similar	O
needs	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Current	O
means	O
of	O
redundancy	O
include	O
replication	B-Architecture
and	O
parity	O
checks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Such	O
redundancy	O
can	O
be	O
implemented	O
via	O
a	O
RAID	B-Architecture
array	I-Architecture
(	O
whereby	O
multiple	O
physical	O
disks	O
appear	O
to	O
a	O
local	O
computer	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
disk	O
,	O
which	O
may	O
include	O
data	B-Architecture
replication	I-Architecture
,	O
and/or	O
disk	O
partitioning	B-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Similarly	O
,	O
a	O
grid	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
would	O
consist	O
of	O
some	O
level	O
of	O
redundancy	O
(	O
either	O
at	O
the	O
logical	O
file	O
level	O
,	O
or	O
at	O
the	O
block	O
level	O
,	O
possibly	O
including	O
some	O
sort	O
of	O
parity	O
check	O
)	O
across	O
the	O
various	O
disks	O
present	O
in	O
the	O
"	O
grid	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
First	O
and	O
foremost	O
,	O
a	O
file	B-Application
table	I-Application
mechanism	O
is	O
necessary	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
the	O
file	B-Application
table	I-Application
must	O
include	O
a	O
mechanism	O
for	O
locating	O
the	O
(	O
target/destination	O
)	O
file	O
within	O
the	O
grid	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
BitTorrent	B-Protocol
technology	O
,	O
a	O
parallel	O
can	O
be	O
drawn	O
to	O
a	O
grid	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
,	O
in	O
that	O
a	O
torrent	B-Protocol
tracker	O
(	O
and	O
search	O
engine	O
)	O
would	O
be	O
the	O
"	O
file	B-Application
table	I-Application
"	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
torrent	B-Protocol
applications	O
(	O
transmitting	O
the	O
files	O
)	O
would	O
be	O
the	O
"	O
file	O
data	O
"	O
component	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
RSS	O
feed	O
like	O
mechanism	O
could	O
be	O
utilized	O
by	O
file	B-Application
table	I-Application
nodes	O
to	O
indicate	O
when	O
new	O
files	O
are	O
added	O
to	O
the	O
table	O
,	O
to	O
instigate	O
replication	B-Architecture
and	O
other	O
similar	O
components	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
file	O
system	O
may	O
incorporate	O
similar	O
technology	O
(	O
distributed	O
replication	B-Architecture
,	O
distributed	O
data	O
request/fulfillment	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
both	O
such	O
systems	O
(	O
file	B-Application
table	I-Application
,	O
and	O
file	O
data	O
)	O
were	O
capable	O
of	O
being	O
addressed	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
entity	O
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
using	O
virtual	O
nodes	O
in	O
a	O
cluster	O
)	O
,	O
then	O
growth	O
into	O
such	O
a	O
system	O
could	O
be	O
easily	O
controlled	O
simply	O
by	O
deciding	O
which	O
uses	O
the	O
grid	O
member	O
would	O
be	O
responsible	O
(	O
file	B-Application
table	I-Application
and	O
file	O
lookups	O
,	O
and/or	O
file	O
data	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Assuming	O
there	O
exists	O
some	O
method	O
of	O
managing	O
data	B-Architecture
replication	I-Architecture
(	O
assigning	O
quotas	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Torrents	B-Protocol
support	O
minimal	O
hierarchy	O
(	O
currently	O
implemented	O
either	O
as	O
metadata	O
in	O
the	O
torrent	B-Protocol
tracker	O
,	O
or	O
strictly	O
as	O
UI	O
and	O
basic	O
categorization	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
a	O
grid	O
(	O
network	O
based	O
)	O
file	O
system	O
breaks	O
traditional	O
TCP/IP	O
paradigms	O
in	O
that	O
a	O
file	O
system	O
(	O
generally	O
low	O
level	O
,	O
ring	O
0	O
type	O
of	O
operations	O
)	O
require	O
complicated	O
TCP/IP	O
implementations	O
,	O
introducing	O
layers	O
of	O
abstraction	O
and	O
complication	O
to	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
creating	O
such	O
a	O
grid	B-Application
file	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Network	O
load	B-Application
balancing	I-Application
/	O
CARP	B-Application
–	O
splitting	O
incoming	O
requests	O
to	O
multiple	O
computers	O
,	O
usually	O
configured	O
identically	O
or	O
as	O
one	O
whole	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Shared	O
storage	O
clustering	B-Architecture
/	O
SANs	O
–	O
a	O
single	O
disk	O
(	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
physical	O
disks	O
acting	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
logical	O
disk	O
)	O
is	O
presented	O
to	O
multiple	O
computers	O
which	O
split	O
incoming	O
requests	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-Architecture
replication	I-Architecture
/	O
mirroring	O
–	O
multiple	O
computers	O
may	O
attempt	O
to	O
synchronize	O
data	O
(	O
usually	O
point-in-time	O
or	O
snapshot	O
based	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
partitioning	B-General_Concept
–	O
splitting	O
data	O
among	O
multiple	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
