Networking in the Research UNIX(R) System

In the experimental UNIX(R) system used in the Bell Laboratories Computing Science Research Center, kernel support for networking is unusually spare. The kernel provides general-purpose communications channels (streams) and a way to export file system operations (a filesystem switch and a network filesystem protocol). Connection setup, network filesystem servers, and the like are provided by user-mode programs that build on these mechanisms. This talk will briefly describe the kernel mechanisms, and give some examples of their use in network dialing, remote filesystems, transparent access to remote database, and relatively painless support for obscure disk formats.