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Sun PC-Cache FS

Cache FS (Cache File System) was released by Sun Microsystems as part of a Solaris 2.3 NFS workstation software upgrade. The Cache-FS product features directory and file caching to enhance the performance of NFS workstations connected to NFS servers. Cache-FS is an interesting performance enhancement for Unix/NFS boxes but it is NOS specific and does not provide any facility for sharing a cache across the network.

Cache FS is also a bit aggressive when it comes to cache coherency, allowing user configurable periods of time (>30 seconds) where files in their cache could be out of sync. SLC in contrast is a much more conservative technology, never allowing clients to use non-coherent data.

In comparison, SLC sends all open file requests to the original file server so security and licensing as well as coherency are preserved. SLC also caches objects (fractional parts) of a file improving overall cache performance and efficiency.

Sun has recently introduced PC-Cache FS, a Microsoft Windows(3.1 & 95) based version that is NOS independent.

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