In computing, a shared resource is a device or piece of information on a computer that is accessed from another computer via a network, as if it were a local resource. Originally, the word computing was synonymous with counting and calculating, and a science and technology that deals with the original sense of computing mathematical calculations. ...

Examples are shared file access (also known as disk sharing and folder sharing), shared printer access (printer sharing), shared scanner access, etc. The shared resource is called a shared disk (also known as mounted disk), shared drive volume, shared folder, shared file, shared printer and shared scanner. Mounting, in computer science, is the process of making a file system ready for use by the operating system, typically by reading certain index data structures from storage into memory ahead of time. ...

A few years ago the term file sharing was for shared file access, but that is today often associated with peer to peer file sharing. Shared file and printer access is based on the client-server paradigm, which is the opposite to peer-to-peer communication. A client process on the local user computer takes initiative to the communication, while a server process on the file server or printer server remote computer is passively waiting for missions. File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ... Client/Server is a network application architecture which separates the client (usually the graphical user interface) from the server. ...

Common file systems and protocols

Shared file and printer access require an operating system on the client that supports access to resources on a server, an operating system on the server that supports access to its resources from a client, and an application layer (in the four or five layer TCP/IP reference model) file sharing protocol and transport layer protocol to provide that shared access. Modern operating systems for personal computers include distributed file systems that support file sharing, while handheld computing devices sometimes require additional software for shared file access. An operating system (OS) is a computer program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... The application layer is the 7 th seventh level of the seven-layer OSI model. ... The TCP/IP reference model or TCP/IP model, sometimes called the DoD model (DoD, Department of Defense), ARPANET reference model or the Internet reference model, is a layered abstract description for communications and computer network protocol design. ... In computing and telecommunications, the transport layer is layer four of the seven layer OSI model. ... // For the Microsoft distributed file system (DFS), see Distributed File System (Microsoft). ...

The most common such file systems and protocols are:

The "primary operating system" is the operating system on which the file sharing protocol in question is most commonly used. Other operating systems might also implement that protocol; for example, Samba is an SMB server running on Unix-like operating systems and some other non-MS-DOS/non-Windows operating systems. Mac OS, which stands for Macintosh Operating System, is Apple Computer’s name for the operating systems for Macintosh computers. ... The Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) is a layer 6 (presentation layer) network protocol that offers file services for Mac OS X and Classic Mac OS. In Mac OS X, AFP is one of several file services supported including Server Message Block (SMB), Network File System (NFS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP... TCP is an abbreviation of all of: Transmission Control Protocol Thermal conversion process Top Cow Productions Tool Center Point of a robot A number of chemical substances: Trichlorophenol, a fungicide Trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl, a germicide, see TCP (antiseptic) Tricresylphosphate, a lubricant, gasoline additive, plasticizer, and flame retardant Thienylcyclohexylpiperidine, which has been sold... The abbreviation UDP can refer to: User Datagram Protocol Usenet Death Penalty Ulster Democratic Party Uridine-diphosphate, cf. ... AppleTalk is a proprietary suite of protocols developed by Apple Computer for computer networking. ... A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... Network File System (NFS) is a protocol originally developed by Sun Microsystems in 1984 and defined in RFCs 1094, 1813, and 3530 (obsoletes 3010), as a distributed file system which allows a computer to access files over a network as easily as if they were on its local disks. ... TCP is an abbreviation of all of: Transmission Control Protocol Thermal conversion process Top Cow Productions Tool Center Point of a robot A number of chemical substances: Trichlorophenol, a fungicide Trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl, a germicide, see TCP (antiseptic) Tricresylphosphate, a lubricant, gasoline additive, plasticizer, and flame retardant Thienylcyclohexylpiperidine, which has been sold... The abbreviation UDP can refer to: User Datagram Protocol Usenet Death Penalty Ulster Democratic Party Uridine-diphosphate, cf. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... 1. ... Server Message Block (SMB) is an application-level network protocol mainly applied to shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. ... TCP is an abbreviation of all of: Transmission Control Protocol Thermal conversion process Top Cow Productions Tool Center Point of a robot A number of chemical substances: Trichlorophenol, a fungicide Trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl, a germicide, see TCP (antiseptic) Tricresylphosphate, a lubricant, gasoline additive, plasticizer, and flame retardant Thienylcyclohexylpiperidine, which has been sold... The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ... The abbreviation UDP can refer to: User Datagram Protocol Usenet Death Penalty Ulster Democratic Party Uridine-diphosphate, cf. ... NetBIOS Extended User Interface (NetBEUI, pronounced net-booey, also known as NetBIOS Frame, or NBF) is an unrouted (non-routable) network- and transport-level data protocol most commonly used as one of the layers of Microsoft Windows networking. ... NetBIOS is an acronym for Network Basic Input/Output System. ... NetWare is a network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. ... The NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) is a network protocol used in some products from Novell, Inc. ... Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) is at the Network layer of the OSI model and is part of the IPX/SPX protocol stack. ... SPX can refer to: Sequenced packet exchange S&P 500 index ticker This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Service Advertising Protocol (SAP) is included in the Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) protocol. ... Samba is a free software re-implementation of SMB/CIFS networking protocol released under the GNU General Public License. ... A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ...

Naming convention and mapping

On a DOS or Windows PC computer, a shared folder can be addressed according to the following: serverfolder, where server is the WINS name or DNS name of the server computer. For exampel serverc$ usually denotes a drive with drive letter c: on the server machine. ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... 1. ... WINS can refer to: Windows Internet Naming Service. ... DNS may refer to: Domain Name System Direct numerical simulation Doctor of Nursing Science 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

A shared drive or folder is often mapped, meaning that it is assigned a drive letter on the local PC computer. Drive letter assignment is the process of assigning drive letters to primary and logical partitions (drive volumes) in the root namespace as seen by a Microsoft operating system. ...

Difference from file transfer and synchronization

Shared file access should not be confused with file transfer using the file transfer protocol (FTP), or the Bluetooth or IRDA OBject EXchange (OBEX) protocol. Shared access involves automatic synchronization of folder information whenever a folder is changed on the server, for example about and provides server side file searching, while file transfer is a more rudimentary service. FTP or file transfer protocol is used to connect two computers over the Internet so that the user of one computer can transfer files and perform file commands on the other computer. ... Bluetooth logo Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). ... The initials IRDA can refer to various things: In Information Technology and Communications, IrDA refers to Infrared Data Association, a standard for communication between devices (such as computers, PDAs and mobile phones) over short distances using infrared signals. ... OBEX (abbreviation of OBject EXchange, also termed IrOBEX) is a communications protocol that facilitates the exchange of binary objects between devices. ...

Shared file access is normally considered as a local area network (LAN) service, while FTP is an Internet service. Due to security reasons and, at least formerly, extensive communication load in the network, shared printer and file access is normally prohibited in firewalls from computers outside the LAN or enterprise Intranet. However, by means of virtual private networks (VPN), shared resources can securely be made available for certified users outside the local network. Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols, network connectivity, and possibly the public telecommunication system to securely share part of an organizations information or operations with its employees. ... A virtual private network (VPN) is a private communications network often used within a company, or by several companies or organizations, to communicate confidentially over a publicly accessible network. ...

Shared file access are transparant to the user, as if it was a file in the local file system, and supports a multi-user environment. This includes Concurrency control or locking of a remote file while a user is editing it, and file system permissions. In computer science -- more specifically, in the field of databases -- concurrency control is a method used to ensure that database transactions are executed in a safe manner (i. ... In computer science, a lock is a synchronization mechanism for enforcing limits on access to a resource in an environment where there are many threads of execution. ... Most modern file systems have methods of administering permissions or access rights to specific users and groups of users. ...

Shared file access resembles but should not be confused with, file synchronization and other information synchronization using for example the SyncML language. Shared file access is based on server side pushing of folder information, and is normally used over an "always on" Internet socket. File synchronization allows the user to be offline from time to time, and is normally based on an agent software that polls synchronized machines at reconnect, and sometimes repeatedly with a certain time interval, to descover differences. Modern operational systems often includes a local cache of remoted files, allowing offline access and synchronization when reconnected. File synchronization in computing is the process of making sure that two or more locations contain the same up-to-date information. ... SyncML (Synchronization Markup Language) is the former name (currently referred to as: Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management) for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. ... It has been suggested that Ip socket be merged into this article or section. ... Look up cache in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• List of file systems, distributed file systems section
• Distributed file systems