Abstract: A distributed file system is disclosed. A plurality of disk servers, operating as a single distributed disk server layer, are connected to the one or more physical disks. Each disk server stores meta-data for each of the files. A plurality of lock servers, having one or more locks for each file operates as a single distributed lock server to coordinate access to the files stored by the disk server layer. A plurality of asynchronous file servers, operating as a single distributed file server layer in response to a request for a file from a user program: (i) retrieves the requested file from the disk server layer and at least one lock, associated with the retrieved file, from the lock server, and (ii) retrieves meta-data for at least one file that is related to the requested files, and at least one lock, for each file that has had its meta-data retrieved.