Network File Sharing (NFS) is the process of making files such as documents and multi media files on their own computer accessible for people to view and download over networks including LAN, WAN and the Internet. Usually the peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture is adopted in the network file sharing systems, where the files are stored on and served by personal computers of the users in a decentralized way. Typically, people engaged in the file sharing system are providing file sharing over network as well as file downloading from others.
Decentralization is a key architectural concept in today's network file sharing systems, which has also been widely pushed over the fear of having a centralized network attacked, either by legal disputes or hostile users. While the foundation protocol of the Internet TCP/IP was designed to be robust and withstand concerted attack, network file sharing systems based on the peer-to-peer architecture are proving even stronger.
To avoid situations such as leeching where the one centralized person will collect and will not later freely give away what was given, Trade and ratio systems evolve in order to reduce the impact of leeching. Under these systems, a person will only share when they can expect to get something in return. Different network file sharing systems such as Kazaa, emule and Bittorrent have implemented rating systems to facilitate the fair and efficient Network file Sharing. Basically, it is up to the file sharing systems with functionality designed around making sharing files more effective, both in the real sense of uploading and downloading (like anti-leeching functions) and in the more ethereal sense of being bulletproof towards legal issues (as with anonymity and decentralization).
Microsoft Windows (98, XP and 2000) have functions that allow user to put shared files in a public folder. Windows 2000 support network user access authentication and allows host user to control the sharing properties of individual files. One caution of network file sharing is the possible compromising of the security of the host machine, which opens doors for people to access other files in the system, install harmful files into the host machine and even making attacks to the system. Firewall is necessary to protect the host systems doing network file sharing.
Related Terms:Peer to Peer, P2P