Some file systems support numerous file types and some file systems only support a few file types. For example, VMS supports variable length record sequential files, fixed length record sequential files, fixed length record random access files, index sequential files, stream files, and others. On the other hand, IEEE 1003.1-1990 supports only regular files (i.e., byte addressable random access files), character special files, block special files, FIFO special files, and directories. In a network environment, all file types on a client may not be supported on a server and likewise, all file types on a server may not be supported on a client. There is a serious problem if the client does not support any of the file types of the server. Transparent file access is reasonable as long as at least one file type on the client can be supported on the server. Otherwise, conversion between file types is required either by the client, by the server, or by the network.