One embodiment of this mechanism provides a system that reduces network traffic and other system overhead for remote file append operations. This system generally operates by keeping track of file append operations on a local computer system when possible instead of always communicating with a remote file server. More specifically, the system operates by receiving a request at the local computer system to append additional data to a file residing in non-volatile storage on the remote file server. If sufficient space has been allocated to accommodate the additional data on the remote file server, the system writes the additional data to the end of a locally cached copy of the file in the local computer system. Next, the system updates a file length value stored in the local computer system to reflect the additional data. If sufficient space has not been allocated to accommodate the additional data on the remote file server, the system requests additional space to be allocated past the end of the file on the remote file server. If the request is granted, the system updates an allocated space value for the file stored on the local computer system to reflect the additional space. In one embodiment of the present invention, after the allocated space value for the file has been updated, the system writes the additional data to the end of a locally cached copy of the file in the local computer system. The system also updates the file length value stored on the local computer system to reflect the additional data.