The IBM System Storage N series is specifically designed to be used as Network File System (NFS) file servers. The requirements for a file system operating in an NFS file server environment are different from those for a general purpose file system. The Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL) is the file system used in N series storage systems. This paper covers the basic N series storage system architecture, WAFL file system, and RAID-4 implementation. The paper explains how WAFL uses Snapshots to eliminate the need for file system consistency checking after an unclean shutdown. The primary focus of this paper is to explain the algorithms and data structures that WAFL uses to implement Snapshots.
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