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From what I've learned so far, you can cache things on multiple levels to get information transferred at faster speeds (for instance, a register is a cache for L1, L2; L1, L2 are caches for RAM; RAM is a cache for disk; etc)

But how does caching work when you are dealing with remote file systems?

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I would point out that your summary of caching there is a gross oversimplification, but I guess it's a concise enough way to explain it to a beginner. As for answering your question, I'll leave that to somebody who can explain it a bit better than I can, since I'll probably muddle the terminology up. – Shinrai Nov 2 '11 at 0:16
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L1, L2 cache and RAM depends on what the processor is processing. This has nothing to deal with file systems themselves. When you open a file, it takes it from your filesystem and dumps it into RAM (memory).

Your disk does have cache, but it is completely independent from the operating system themselves. It automatically puts files in cache if a file is being accessed much more.

So in caching with remote file systems, your grabbing the file from your remote disk and placing it into your local memory. So it acts the same as pulling data from your local disk.

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"Your disk does have cache, but it is completely independent from the operating system themselves" ~ so you're saying that the disk somehow puts the file into RAM instead of the operating system putting it there? – Kaitlyn Mcmordie Nov 4 '11 at 4:37
Yeah, its more sector dependent. Your OS does have a choice to use it, but the disk usually knows what to do. – Steven Lu Nov 6 '11 at 7:22
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