a type of file system in which the file system itself manages and transparently locates pieces of information (e
files stored over several computers, whose actual location is given to the application by particular software. (TechEncyclopedia) Mentioned in: DC Communication.
(n.) A file system that exists on more than one computer, enabling each user to access files on other computers.
A Windows 2000 service consisting of software residing on network servers and clients that transparently links shared folders located on different file servers into a single namespace for improved load sharing and data availability.
A Microsoft technology introduced in Windows 2000 that allows multiple servers and shared directories on a network to appear as a single network drive, thus helping to ease the annoying problem of running out of drive letters in complex environments. With DFS, you can have your users' H: drive, for example, be a collection of network resources instead of just a single share.
A system of computer stations in which processing, data storage, and accessibility to databases are shared. Distributed systems usually use some kind of client/server organization. Distributed systems are considered by some to be the "next wave" of computing.
Software on a local computer that makes files on other (that is, remote) machines appear to be part of the local file system.
A file system that joins the file systems of individual machines. Files are stored on different machines in the network but are accessible from all machines.
The Microsoft Distributed File System, or DFS, is a set of client and server services that allow a large enterprise to organize many distributed SMB file shares into a distributed file system. DFS provides location transparency and redundancy to improve data availability in the face of failure or heavy load by allowing shares in multiple different locations to be logically grouped under one folder, or DFS root.