WinDFS is a solution to distribute high volume data among Windows nodes. It specifically designed for small to medium scale networks.
WinDFS provides a multi-user concurrent system that enables you to browse, edit, delete or modify files on other remote machines belongs to your local network. This system stands on the existing sharing capabilities of Windows but implements
- an automatic placement strategy to choose the most suitable node on the network for newly added files,
- a concurrent usage management to keep multi user actions in control.
What Do I Need Besides WinDFS?
.NET 3.5 and we recommend you to have at least 3, maximum 50 machines for efficiency. It is better to dedicate one machine to play the master role. As a note, you will not need SQL Server or any other database. WinDFS implements its own standalone storage engine specifically designed for file/directory management. Built-in storage engine helps WinDFS to stay very light-weight and you can expect high performances even on non-server Windows editions.
What are the Limitations?
Master machine is neither distributed nor shadowed by other nodes, so most likely it is the bottleneck of the system. Current architecture highly depends on the master and a possible crash of the master machine causes system halt.
I'm Ready, How Can I Start?
Download and run the auto installer first, but keep in mind that you have to make a few operational changes before you see a perfect working scene. WinDFS requires you to set the remote shared directories before you start. Formal process takes less than a minute to make environment changes in order to see it working. On the other hand, if you want to read the process in an old-fashioned way, here it is:
- Create shared directories to be dedicated to WinDFS on every machine.
- Register the full paths of those directories on the master.
- Start distributing your files.