Computational network interface card with metadata caching

An electronic device, comprising:

• a memory comprising instructions;
• a processor electrically connected to the memory and configured to execute the instructions;
• and
• a computational network interface card (NIC) configured to manage distributed filesystem (DFS) metadata work permissions for DFS metadata in a local distributed file system (DFS) metadata cache of the computational NIC, wherein the DFS metadata is metadata for a DFS,
• wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processor and/or the computational NIC to perform operations comprising:
• requesting, to the computational NIC, by the processor, metadata work permission for a piece of DFS metadata required by a first process executing on the processor;
• based on determining that the computational NIC does not have metadata management permission for the piece of DFS metadata, requesting, by the computational NIC, to a metadata server of the DFS, metadata management permission for the piece of DFS metadata;
• and
• obtaining, by the computational NIC, from the metadata server, metadata management permission for the piece of DFS metadata, and based thereon, assigning metadata work permission to the first process.

A memory expander supporting CXL.mem as defined in a compute express link (CXL) protocol, the memory expander comprising:

• a memory device in which pieces of DFS metadata of a DFS are stored;
• and
• a controller configured to control the memory device,
• wherein the controller is configured to:
• receive a work request for an operation on one of the pieces of metadata from an electronic device comprising a computational network interface card (NIC) connected with the memory expander;
• and
• in response to the work request, perform at least one operation on one of the pieces of DFS metadata stored in the memory device.