Some Potential Uses

For a folder that has per user configuration files where the application is not multi-user aware.

For a folder that has the applications that users can use in them but the contents change depending on what group membership they have.

For a needed application that is not multi-user aware and thus does not run unless each user has a private copy.

For scripting various pieces of data.

Mappable File System

Aqua Connect Mappable File System (ACMFS) is the first file system specifically designed for a terminal server environment. ACMFS enables dynamic data representation and dynamic data delivery to users and applications. ACMFS requires a backing store to operate which can be any other file system supported by the underlining operating system. ACMFS enables an IT administrator to configure what data and how that data is both displayed and delivered to an individual user and/or application. ACMFS delivers all of these capabilities and more while using the open source FUSE project for interfacing with the coreoperating system allowing ACMFS to exist in a noncritical section of the operating system and by extension is crash resistant. ACMFS's core mechanism is based on a "Mapping" principle. ACMFS's mapping implementation allows for data to be backed by multiple data stores and by multiple paths in these data stores. With a volume mount point ACMFS can map one user and/or application to one specific backing store with another user and/or application to a different backing store. The dynamic mapping is accomplished by providing a list of local and/or remote file systems that the ACMFS can use for a specific mount point. In addition to providing the backing store list, ACMFS is also provided with one or more mapping rules. A mapping rule describes to ACMFS which backing store to use under what conditions. Conditions that can be specified for a mapping rule including but is not limited to: User's unix login name, User's unique ID, User's primary group ID, Process ID, Process Name, User's session ID and Access count.

ACMFS can also be used to unify multiple backing stores into one cohesive file system. All of this is achieved while maintaining multiple user access thus making it an ideal file system for a terminal server environment. ACMFS traditional features and limitations depend on the underlining backing store file system. ACMFS includes both the before mentioned atypical features and the following traditional (typical) file system features if the underlining backing store supports them as well: 8EiB file size limit, Unicode file paths and names, Posix attributes, Extended attributes, Exclusive file locks, Shared file locks, Read-only mount options, B-Tree directory structure, ~4 Billion file entries, 255 character (UTF-16) file name limit, Transparent compression, Transparent block level encryption and Access Control Lists.

A Specific Example

One possible implementation of ACMFS is where an administrator creates a "Shared Applications" folder. The applications displayed is customized based on the user's group membership. If a user is a member of the "Office" and "Account" groups, then that user would see all of the office and accounting applications while another user accessing the same volume/mount point who is a member of the "Office" and "Warehouse" groups would have access to the office and warehouse applications and can not see or execute the accounting applications. The same situation can be applied to data files such as office documents and spreadsheets where some users can view some data files and other users can view different and/or overlapping data files.