EOS Windows native client: Overview

About

**Context**

An overview of the EOS Windows native client for EOS users on Windows operating systems

**Objectives**

EOS Windows native client should provide Windows platform users with native access to EOS cluster for both file transferring and command requests, giving them improved user experience compared to EOS Linux client.

**Method**

EOS Windows native client comes with two interfaces - EOS-shell (EOS-wnc command line interface) which can be run inside Command Prompt or PowerShell terminal, and EOS-drive which mounts EOS file system as Windows drive. These interfaces bring EOS file system to Windows users with the user-friendly experience they expect and require.

EOS-shell supports all the commands as EOS Linux client, together with some improvements in terms of uniform manuals for all commands, additional checks for specified parameters and autocomplete functionality for commands, command arguments and paths inside EOS space. This means that a user, specifically used to EOS Linux client can easily make the switch to EOS Windows native client seamlessly.

EOS-drive provides classic Windows experience by representing EOS file system as a drive on Windows, meaning that any user can easily manage files and directories inside EOS space, as if they are on Windows machine itself, with no need for knowledge of how to use command line interface.

By constantly testing EOS Windows native client, in Comtrade's testing environment and against large EOS instances at CERN, alongside comparing it with other ways to access EOS file system and even with different distributed file systems, we are ensuring that EOS users on Windows will not lag behind regarding performances.

**Conclusion**

Developing and maintaining high-performance and user-friendly EOS client for Windows platforms should always be a priority while seeking to constantly provide possible improvements that ensure better user experience. Additionally, Windows users should be given the opportunity to…