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Newcastle Connection

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25: 89:) was a software subsystem from the early 1980s that could be added to each of a set of interconnected UNIX-like systems to build a distributed system. The latter would be functionally indistinguishable, at both user- and system-level, from a conventional UNIX system. It became a forerunner of 108:
The term "UNIX United" describes the scheme of combining the overall filesystems of the participating UNIX machines; "Newcastle Connection" describes the underlying communication layer which enables this. A UNIX United system constructed with the Newcastle Connection is functionally
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In essence, the concept of the "parent directory" was re-interpreted at the root of the filesystem, where it originally had no significant meaning, to mean "this directory is on a remote machine", similar to subsequent
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to the remote machine. All other pathnames would simply go through to the local kernel as usual. (If the current working directory was itself remote, this needed to be taken into account.)
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It did, however, require that all software intended to use it, including shells, the "cp" command, etc. needed to be re-linked with this new library.
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happens as normal on the local system. The second, however, is diverted into the "Newcastle Connection" software because of the filename's leading "
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root. If the example machine is named "unix1", an overall UNIX United scheme with an additional second machine, "unix2", would look like:
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of its day which was capable of recognising these new semantics. To a first approximation this was to recognise pathnames beginning with
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It required no changes to the UNIX kernel. Rather, it ran in user-space, using a modified version of the
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Continuing one of the previous examples, the "cp" command attempts, as expected, to open the two files:
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network. Subsequent implementations added support for other versions of UNIX (including
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Assuming the command has been relinked with the revised C-library, the first
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indistinguishable from a centralised UNIX system at the system-call level.
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As a reminder, a typical single UNIX directory tree might resemble:
238:( cd /../unix2/home/brian ; cp /../unix1/home/brian/a a ) 318: 317:), network technologies, protocols and hardware architecture ( 18: 97:(NFS). The name derives from the research group at 297:The original implementation at Newcastle was for 465:Catalogue of Distributed File/Operating Systems 215:from "unix1" to "unix2" to sit alongside files 342:Brownbridge, David R.; Marshall, Lindsay F.; 153:UNIX United acts as an extra level above the 8: 458: 456: 228:cp /home/brian/a /../unix2/home/brian/a 69:Learn how and when to remove this message 223:, example equivalent commands might be: 32:This article includes a list of general 334: 430: 428: 7: 463:Borghoff, Uwe M. (6 December 2012). 276:open("/../unix2/home/brian/a", ...) 171:brian (the current directory '.') 38:it lacks sufficient corresponding 14: 355:Software: Practice and Experience 23: 510:Network file transfer protocols 136:brian (current directory '.') 1: 500:Unix network-related software 233:cp a /../unix2/home/brian/a 505:Application layer protocols 531: 436:"The Newcastle Connection" 348:"The Newcastle Connection" 403:Callaghan, Brent (2000). 305:computers connected by a 515:Distributed file systems 467:. Springer. p. 49. 211:If we wish to copy file 53:more precise citations. 16:UNIX software subsystem 441:. Newcastle University 367:10.1002/spe.4380121206 258:remote procedure calls 105:, which developed it. 495:Network file systems 99:Newcastle University 83:Newcastle Connection 95:Network File System 250:C standard library 384:on 16 August 2016 115:Super-root (Unix) 79: 78: 71: 522: 479: 478: 460: 451: 450: 448: 446: 440: 432: 423: 422: 400: 394: 393: 391: 389: 383: 377:. Archived from 352: 339: 288: 284: 277: 272: 255: 239: 234: 229: 222: 218: 214: 156: 91:Sun Microsystems 74: 67: 63: 60: 54: 49:this article by 40:inline citations 27: 26: 19: 530: 529: 525: 524: 523: 521: 520: 519: 485: 484: 483: 482: 475: 462: 461: 454: 444: 442: 438: 434: 433: 426: 419: 405:NFS Illustrated 402: 401: 397: 387: 385: 381: 350: 341: 340: 336: 331: 295: 286: 282: 275: 270: 253: 246: 237: 232: 227: 220: 216: 212: 209: 154: 151: 123: 75: 64: 58: 55: 45:Please help to 44: 28: 24: 17: 12: 11: 5: 528: 526: 518: 517: 512: 507: 502: 497: 487: 486: 481: 480: 474:978-3642768804 473: 452: 424: 417: 409:Addison Wesley 395: 344:Randell, Brian 333: 332: 330: 327: 323:Motorola 68000 307:Cambridge Ring 294: 291: 279: 278: 273: 271:open("a", ...) 245: 242: 241: 240: 235: 230: 208: 207: 206: 205: 204: 203: 202: 201: 200: 199: 196: 184: 183: 182: 181: 180: 179: 178: 175: 159: 150: 149: 148: 147: 146: 145: 144: 143: 140: 127: 122: 119: 77: 76: 31: 29: 22: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 527: 516: 513: 511: 508: 506: 503: 501: 498: 496: 493: 492: 490: 476: 470: 466: 459: 457: 453: 437: 431: 429: 425: 420: 418:0-201-32570-5 414: 410: 406: 399: 396: 380: 376: 372: 368: 364: 361:: 1147–1162. 360: 356: 349: 345: 338: 335: 328: 326: 324: 320: 316: 312: 308: 304: 300: 292: 290: 274: 269: 268: 267: 264: 261: 259: 251: 243: 236: 231: 226: 225: 224: 197: 194: 193: 191: 190: 188: 187: 185: 176: 173: 172: 170: 169: 167: 166: 164: 163: 161: 160: 158: 141: 138: 137: 135: 134: 132: 131: 129: 128: 126: 120: 118: 116: 110: 106: 104: 103:Brian Randell 100: 96: 92: 88: 84: 73: 70: 62: 59:December 2018 52: 48: 42: 41: 35: 30: 21: 20: 464: 443:. Retrieved 404: 398: 386:. Retrieved 379:the original 358: 354: 337: 301:on a set of 296: 280: 265: 262: 247: 210: 152: 124: 111: 107: 86: 82: 80: 65: 56: 37: 445:21 December 388:23 December 293:Portability 121:UNIX United 87:UNIX United 51:introducing 489:Categories 329:References 34:references 244:Internals 117:" usage. 346:(1982). 315:System V 101:, under 375:1840438 311:BSD 4.2 299:UNIX V7 47:improve 471:  415:  373:  303:PDP-11 283:open() 192:brian 186:unix2 165:unix1 36:, but 439:(PDF) 382:(PDF) 371:S2CID 351:(PDF) 254:"/.." 189:home 168:home 133:home 469:ISBN 447:2021 413:ISBN 390:2018 313:and 219:and 162:/.. 85:(or 81:The 363:doi 325:). 319:VAX 289:". 287:/.. 491:: 455:^ 427:^ 411:. 407:. 369:. 359:12 357:. 353:. 321:, 130:/ 93:' 477:. 449:. 421:. 392:. 365:: 221:c 217:b 213:a 198:c 195:b 177:b 174:a 155:/ 142:b 139:a 113:" 72:) 66:( 61:) 57:( 43:.

Index

references
inline citations
improve
introducing
Learn how and when to remove this message
Sun Microsystems
Network File System
Newcastle University
Brian Randell
Super-root (Unix)
C standard library
remote procedure calls
UNIX V7
PDP-11
Cambridge Ring
BSD 4.2
System V
VAX
Motorola 68000
Randell, Brian
"The Newcastle Connection"
doi
10.1002/spe.4380121206
S2CID
1840438
the original
Addison Wesley
ISBN
0-201-32570-5

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