/**********************************************************
 * NameNode serves as both directory namespace manager and
 * "inode table" for the Hadoop DFS.  There is a single NameNode
 * running in any DFS deployment.  (Well, except when there
 * is a second backup/failover NameNode.)
 *
 * The NameNode controls two critical tables:
 *   1)  filename ->blocksequence (namespace)
 *   2)  block ->machinelist ("inodes")
 *
 * The first table is stored on disk and is very precious.
 * The second table is rebuilt every time the NameNode comes
 * up.
 *
 * 'NameNode' refers to both this class as well as the 'NameNode server'.
 * The 'FSNamesystem' class actually performs most of the filesystem
 * management.  The majority of the 'NameNode' class itself is concerned
 * with exposing the IPC interface and the http server to the outside world,
 * plus some configuration management.
 *
 * NameNode implements the ClientProtocol interface, which allows
 * clients to ask for DFS services.  ClientProtocol is not
 * designed for direct use by authors of DFS client code.  End -users
 * should instead use the org.apache.nutch.hadoop.fs.FileSystem class.
 *
 * NameNode also implements the DatanodeProtocol interface, used by
 * DataNode programs that actually store DFS data blocks.  These
 * methods are invoked repeatedly and automatically by all the
 * DataNodes in a DFS deployment.
 *
 * NameNode also implements the NamenodeProtocol interface, used by
 * secondary namenodes or rebalancing processes to get partial namenode's
 * state, for example partial blocksMap etc.
 **********************************************************/