Project Artifacts & Academic Deliverables¶

This page catalogs the formal deliverables, academic publications, and multi-platform binary distributions for the Distributed Virtual File System (DVFS).

1. Academic Presentation Poster¶

The DVFS project was presented at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IIT Gandhinagar) as part of distributed systems coursework and research.

Title: Building DVFS, a Distributed 'Cloud' for our Campus: Architecture, Protocol Design, Caching, and Multi-User Consistency over gRPC
Authors: Romit Mohane, Umang Shikarvar
Faculty Guide: Prof. Abhishek Bichhawat
Institute: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, IIT Gandhinagar

Download Document¶

Direct download link to the ready-to-print vector presentation poster:

Download Academic Poster (PDF)

Poster Specification & Architectural Summary¶

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  BUILDING DVFS: A DISTRIBUTED 'CLOUD' FOR OUR CAMPUS                                  |
|  Authors: Romit Mohane, Umang Shikarvar | Guide: Prof. Abhishek Bichhawat (IITGN)     |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1. Abstract & Goals        | 3. Initiation Sequence      | 5. Core Data Structures    |
| - Userspace distributed VFS| - Client GetRoots query     | - FID: fs1_42_1            |
| - AFS-style local caching  | - Advisory node selection   | - Inode (authoritative)    |
| - Zero-Trust mTLS 1.3      | - Secure session connect    | - CNode (client mirror)    |
| - Zero polling overhead    | - Interactive REPL startup  | - ACL: Owner + Shared      |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------+----------------------------+
| 2. System Architecture     | 4. Protocol & Stream Flows  | 6. Results & Takeaways     |
| - MetaServer control plane | - Chunked upload streaming  | - Zero-RPC local reads     |
| - FileServer data plane    | - Invalidation callbacks    | - Seamless DHCP recovery   |
| - Client presentation plane| - Subtree DFS propagation   | - Instantaneous UI sync    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Core Takeaways from the Academic Study¶

Low-Latency Interactive UX: By maintaining an in-memory CNode tree mirroring the remote hierarchy, directory inspection commands (ls, cd, pwd, viscache) execute entirely in local userspace with zero network round trips.
Push-Driven Cache Invalidation: Server-push gRPC callbacks eliminate polling traffic, ensuring connected clients observe updates immediately without repeatedly querying fileserver status.
Campus-Resilient Zero-Trust PKI: Decoupling certificate validation from volatile DHCP IP addresses via DNS SANs enables headless cluster nodes to remain cryptographically authenticated across dynamic IP reassignments.

2. Multi-Platform Binary Distributions¶

DVFS includes a native, pure Go cross-compilation release builder (scripts/build-release/main.go). It compiles stripped, self-contained, statically linked binaries (CGO_ENABLED=0, -ldflags="-s -w") with embedded Root CA certificates and automated SHA-256 checksum generation.

Standalone Client Executables¶

Users can download and run standalone client executables directly without installing the Go development toolchain:

Target Platform	Architecture	Standalone Executable	Compressed Archive
Windows	x86_64 / amd64	`dvfs-client-windows-amd64.exe`	`dvfs-client-windows-amd64.zip`
Linux	x86_64 / amd64	`dvfs-client-linux-amd64`	`dvfs-client-linux-amd64.tar.gz`
Linux (ARM)	aarch64 / arm64	`dvfs-client-linux-arm64`	`dvfs-client-linux-arm64.tar.gz`
macOS (Apple Silicon)	arm64 (M1/M2/M3/M4)	`dvfs-client-darwin-arm64`	`dvfs-client-darwin-arm64.tar.gz`
macOS (Intel)	x86_64 / amd64	`dvfs-client-darwin-amd64`	`dvfs-client-darwin-amd64.tar.gz`

Cluster Node Bundles¶

Complete server distributions (containing fileserver, metaserver, admin, systemd units, and setup scripts):

Target Architecture	Description	Distribution Package
Linux ARM64	Raspberry Pi 4 / Raspberry Pi 5 cluster nodes (`dvfs1` through `dvfs9`)	`dvfs-nodes-linux-arm64.tar.gz`
Linux AMD64	x86 Ubuntu Live Server cluster nodes	`dvfs-nodes-linux-amd64.tar.gz`

Building Releases Locally¶

To compile all distributions locally from source:

# Build all client and node distributions
make release

# Build client standalone executables only
make release-client

# Build cluster node bundles only
make release-nodes

All compiled packages and SHA256SUMS.txt are exported into the release/ directory. Automated releases are published to GitHub Releases upon pushing version tags (git push origin v1.x.x).