OPTIMIZING NODE SELECTION WHEN HANDLING CLIENT REQUESTS FOR A DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM (DFS) BASED ON A DYNAMICALLY DETERMINED PERFORMANCE INDEX

The present invention can include an automated method that optimizes the selection of a node in a distributed file system (DFS) to fulfill a client request. Such a method can begin when a client request is received by a master node of a distributed file system (DFS). The DFS can include a multitude of DFS nodes capable of accessing various resources. Two or more DFS nodes can be preselected to fulfill the client request. Each preselected DFS node can then participate in a voting process to dynamically determine the response DFS node that can optimally respond to the client request. The client request can be fulfilled by response DFS node, utilizing the DFS node best capable of servicing the client request.