In addition, the book addresses real-world implementation issues faced by those building an NFS client or server, factors that affect NFS performance, and critical performance benchmarks. Specific topics of interest include: NFS version 4, highlighting performance improvements, security features, and cross-platform interoperability for Internet operation; RPC authentication and security; differences between NFS versions 2 and 3; implementation issues for clients and servers; read-ahead and write-behind; caching policies; the Lock Manager protocol; automounting; NFS variants, including Spritely NFS, NQNFS, Trusted NFS, and NASD NFS; NFS competitors - RFS, AFS, DCE/DFS, and CIFS; the PCNFS protocol for implementing NFS on PC operating systems; and, SPEC SFS benchmarks, WebNFS, and firewalls. Comprehensive and current, "NFS Illustrated" is an essential resource for network professionals who want to use this widespread and evolving technology to its fullest.