The GPFS kernel extension

The GPFS kernel extension provides the interfaces to the operating system vnode and virtual file system (VFS) layer to register GPFS as a native file system.

Structurally, applications make file system calls to the operating system, which presents them to the GPFS file system kernel extension. GPFS uses the standard mechanism for the operating system. In this way, GPFS appears to applications as just another file system. The GPFS kernel extension will either fulfill these requests by using resources that are already available in the system, or sends a message to the GPFS daemon to complete the request.