System and method for transparent, global access to physical devices on

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed that provides transparent, global access to devices on a computer cluster. The present system generates unique device type (dev.sub.-- t) values for all devices and corresponding links between a global file system and the dev.sub.-- t values. The file system is modified to take advantage of this framework so that, when a user requests that a particular device, identified by its logical name, be opened, an operating system kernel queries the file system to determine that device's dev.sub.-- t value and then queries the a device configuration system (DCS) for the location (node) and identification (local address) of a device with that dev.sub.-- t value. Once it has received the device's location and identification, the kernel issues an open request to the host node for the device identified by the DCS. File system components executing on the host node, which include a special file system (SpecFS), handle the open request by returning to the kernel a handle to a special file object that is associated with the desired device. The kernel then returns to the requesting user a file descriptor that is mapped to the handle, through which the user can access the device.