SFCFSHA uses a symmetric architecture in which all nodes in the cluster can simultaneously function as metadata servers. SFCFSHA still has some remnants of the old master/slave or primary/secondary concept. The first server to mount each cluster file system becomes its primary; all other nodes in the cluster become secondaries. Applications access the user data in files directly from the server on which they are running. Each SFCFSHA node has its own intent log. File system operations, such as allocating or deleting files, can originate from any node in the cluster.