Apparatus and method of exporting file systems without first mounting the file systems

• US 20030177107A1
• Filed: 03/14/2002
• Published: 09/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: McBrearty, Gerald Francis, Brown, William B., Grubbs, Mark Allen, Zheng, Wu
• Granted Patent: US 7,890,554 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14

Abstract

A method, system and apparatus for exporting file systems without having to mount them first are provided. Most Unix-based servers usually mount some system operation critical files at startup. Thus, directories have to be mounted. One or more of these directories are usually used as mount points for mounting other file systems when needed. An extended attribute file is used to provide all information needed to export a file system. Thus, a server need not mount a file system to obtain this information. That is on startup, a server needs only refer to these extended attribute files to obtain the information needed to export the file systems.

Claims

1. A method of exporting file systems comprising the steps of:

consulting a file associated with a mount point to retrieve needed information to export the file systems, the mount point being the point at which the file systems are mounted on a computer system; and

exporting the file systems.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the needed information is names of devices within which the file systems are located.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the file systems are exported without first being mounted.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the file is an extended attribute file.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein each mount point has an extended attribute file.

6. A computer program product on a computer readable medium for exporting file systems comprising:

code means for consulting a file associated with a mount point to retrieve needed information to export the file systems, the mount point being the point at which the file systems are mounted on a computer system; and

code means for exporting the file systems.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the needed information is names of devices within which the file systems are located.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the file systems are exported without first being mounted.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein the file is an extended attribute file.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein each mount point has an extended attribute file.

11. An apparatus for exporting file systems comprising:

means for consulting a file associated with a mount point to retrieve needed information to export the file systems, the mount point being the point at which the file systems are mounted on a computer system; and

means for exporting the file systems.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the needed information is names of devices within which the file systems are located.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the file systems are exported without first being mounted.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the file is an extended attribute file.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein each mount point has an extended attribute file.

16. A computer system for exporting file systems comprising:

at least one storage device for storing code data; and

at least one processor for processing the code data to consult a file associated with a mount point to retrieve needed information to export the file systems, the mount point being the point at which the file systems are mounted on a computer system, and to export the file systems.

17. The computer system of claim 16 wherein the needed information is names of devices within which the file systems are located.

18. The computer system of claim 17 wherein the file systems are exported without first being mounted.

19. The computer system of claim 16 wherein the file is an extended attribute file.

20. The computer system of claim 19 wherein each mount point has an extended attribute file.