LSF is designed for networks where all hosts have shared file systems, and files have the same names on all hosts.
LSF includes support for copying user data to the execution host before running a batch job, and for copying results back after the job executes.
In networks where the file systems are not shared, this can be used to give remote jobs access to local data.
Network File System (NFS). NFS file systems can be mounted permanently or on demand using automount.
Andrew File System (AFS): Supported on an on-demand basis under the parameters of the 9.1.2 integration with some published configuration parameters; supports sequential and parallel user jobs accessing AFS, JOB_SPOOL_DIR on AFS, and job output and error files on AFS.
Distributed File System (DCE/DFS): Supported on an on-demand basis.
On Windows, directories containing LSF files can be shared among hosts from a Windows server machine.
LSF is usually used in networks with shared file space. When shared file space is not available, LSF can copy needed files to the execution host before running the job, and copy result files back to the submission host after the job completes.
Some networks do not share files between hosts. LSF can still be used on these networks, with reduced fault tolerance.