If you have an assignment average of 80% or less on the first three assignments, you qualify for an extra credit assignment.

Your assignment is to design and write up a protocol that is to act as a remote file access protocol. The protocol is to be as simple as possible and have the following properties.

• Ability to authenticate based on username
• Ability to write a block of data into a file at a specific position
• Ability to read a block of data from a file at a specific position
• Ability to delete a file by filename
• Ability to create/delete directories
• Ability to query a file for its status (user/group, and permissions, size, etc.)

You are to hand in a typed report describing your protocol and the reasons behind key design choices, such as transport protocol and message format. In addition, you should mention any potential problems and pitfalls that are consequences of your choices. You will be graded on the choices made and how well you describe the pros and cons of your design choices. The key is making a convincing argument. No minimum length is set for the assignment. However, it should not be more than 15 pages double spaced.