One embodiment of the present invention includes a method for enabling a client node to automatically read ahead data from a network based file system. Specifically, in response to an application operating on the client node requesting a data page, the client node requests delivery of data pages from the network based file system. Upon reception, these data pages can each be served to the application. After each data page is served, it is determined whether the number of unrequested available data pages is less than the value of M. If so, an asynchronous read-ahead request is sent to a primary node of the network based file system for P number of data pages. The values of M and P can be such that P data pages can be fetched before M data pages are consumed by the requesting application.