Mobile File Filtering

Mobile file systems has been required to provide mechanisms which reduce the impact of low bandwidth data links and intermittent connectivity on applications. To minimise the frequency of voluntary disconnections (caused by delays with file accesses which are unacceptable to the user), the limited bandwidths of wireless networks must be used to best effect. In this paper, we propose two user-level dynamic filtering mechanisms, inclusive and exclusive filters, which define an adaptive volume. Acting in concert, these filters aim to minimise communication costs associated with maintaining overall consistency of files shared between mobile and desktop users. We present and analyse the results of a simulation study of the effectiveness of our proposed adaptive volumes. 1 Introduction Truly ubiquitous computing requires that programs on mobile computers be able to process work continuously much as they do in a LAN/WAN environment. Appropriate file system support for mobile workers is esse..