System and methods for providing a distributed file system utilizing metadata to track information about data stored throughout the system
First Claim
1. A distributed file system communicating with a plurality of intelligent storage devices, wherein the distributed file system comprises a messaging system and is configured to store and manage metadata about files and directories stored on the distributed file system such that the metadata includes locations of metadata data blocks, content data blocks, and parity data blocks.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The intelligent distributed file system enables the storing of file data among a plurality of smart storage units which are accessed as a single file system. The intelligent distributed file system utilizes a metadata data structure to track and manage detailed information about each file, including, for example, the device and block locations of the file'"'"'s data blocks, to permit different levels of replication and/or redundancy within a single file system, to facilitate the change of redundancy parameters, to provide high-level protection for metadata, to replicate and move data in real-time, and so forth.
674 Citations
42 Claims
- 1. A distributed file system communicating with a plurality of intelligent storage devices, wherein the distributed file system comprises a messaging system and is configured to store and manage metadata about files and directories stored on the distributed file system such that the metadata includes locations of metadata data blocks, content data blocks, and parity data blocks.
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13. A virtual file system for storing data files among a plurality of modular storage units, the virtual file system comprising:
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a plurality of storage units configured to;
store data blocks;
receive a data file read request;
retrieve location data information corresponding the requested data file, wherein the location data information includes storage location information about data blocks that correspond to the requested data file;
retrieve locally stored data blocks;
request remotely stored data blocks from the plurality of storage units;
receive a copy of the remotely stored data blocks from the plurality of storage units; and
return the requested data file. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A modular storage unit configured to communicate with a plurality of modular storage units to provide distributed file storage, the modular storage unit comprising:
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a storage module configured to store blocks of data; and
a processing module configured to;
receive requests for a data file;
retrieve the file location data structure corresponding to the requested data file, wherein the file location data structure includes a listing of the location of locally stored data blocks and remotely stored data blocks;
retrieve the locally stored data blocks from the storage module;
request remotely stored data blocks from at least one of the plurality of modular storage units;
receive the requested remotely stored data blocks; and
return the requested data file. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A location data structure for storing information about data files and directories, wherein the data files and the directories use various redundancy and parity protection, the location data structure comprising:
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a metadata portion which includes metadata about the corresponding data file or the data directory; and
a content portion which includes location information about the location of data file content or location data structure information about children of directories. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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- 39. A smart storage device configured to communicate with other smart storage devices and to process requests for files, wherein data of the requested files is distributed among a subset of the smart storage devices.
Specification