1. A computer-implemented method for controlling a client to handle a break notification from a server, the method comprising: transmitting a lease request over a network that connects one or more clients and servers, wherein the lease request includes a lease identifier provided by a client when the client opened a remote file managed by the server and accessible by other clients; receiving a lease response over the network, wherein the lease response includes information from the remote file managed by the server; caching data at the client based upon the information received from the server; receiving the break notification from the server; in response to receiving the break notification, flushing cached data and sending an acknowledgement request to the server that indicates that the client has handled the break and requests a new scope of access to the remote file based on application requests on the client; and receiving an acknowledgement response from the server that indicates whether the server granted the new scope of access to the remote file.