The protocol supports caching, read-ahead, and write-behind, even for unlocked files, as long as they are safe. All these optimizations are safe as long as only one client is accessing a file; read-caching and read-ahead are safe with many clients accessing a file as long as all are just reading. If many clients are writing a file simultaneously, then none are safe, and all file operations have to go to the server. The protocol notifies all clients accessing a file of changes in the number and access mode of clients accessing the file, so that they can use the most optimized safe access method.