Distributed File System:
A Logical View of Physical Storage

Microsoft® Distributed File System (Dfs) for Windows NT® Server is a network server component that makes it easier for you to find and manage data on your network. Dfs is a means for uniting files on different machines into a single name space. Dfs makes it easy to build a single, hierarchical view of multiple file servers and file server shares on your network.

The beta version of Microsoft Distributed File System (Dfs) is currently available for download from the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver. In addition, Microsoft has distributed a technology preview of its planned Directory Service enabled enhancements to Dfs. The technology preview of Dfs is a sub-set of the functionality planned for the next major version of Windows NT Server. The purpose of this paper is to cover the Dfs technology as a whole, including the version for Windows NT 4.0 operating system, which is currently in beta testing, and the Directory Services enabled technology preview.