> Am I close? a Plan 9 "file server" is just a program that responds to the 9P protocol described in section 5 of the manual. (there is library support for writing a file server.) a file server can provide a service other than conventional data storage: consider rio, the plan 9 window system, and acme, a user interface for programmers. some file servers are more conventional: 9660srv for access to storage in ISO9660 format, and notably fossil and venti.
typically many file servers can run on one host, each providing a different aspect of an application program's run-time environment, but some services might (optionally) be given dedicated machines, such as venti and fossil.
