Method and system for responding to file system requests
First Claim
1. A system for responding to file system requests having file IDs comprising V, a volume identifier specifying the file system being accessed, and R, an integer, specifying the file within the file system being accessed comprising:
- D disk elements in which files are stored, where D is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer;
a switching fabric connected to the D disk elements to route requests to a corresponding disk element; and
N network elements connected to the switching fabric, each network element having a mapping function that for every value of V, specifies one or more elements from the set D that store the data specified by volume V, where N is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer and N+D is greater than or equal to 4, which receives the requests and causes the switching fabric to route the requests by their file ID according to the mapping function.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for responding to file system requests having file IDs comprising V, a volume identifier specifying the file system being accessed, and R, an integer, specifying the file within the file system being accessed. The system includes D disk elements in which files are stored, where D is greater than or equal to 1 and is an integer. The system includes a switching fabric connected to the D disk elements to route requests to a corresponding disk element. The system includes N network elements connected to the switching fabric. Each network element has a mapping function that for every value of V, specifies one or more elements from the set D that store the data specified by volume V, where N is greater than or equal to 1 and is an integer and N+D is greater than or equal to 3, which receives the requests and causes the switching fabric to route the requests by their file ID according to the mapping function. A method for responding to file system requests. The method includes the steps of receiving file system requests having file IDs comprising V, a volume identifier specifying the file system being accessed, and R, an integer, specifying the file within the file system being accessed at network elements. Each network element has a mapping function that for every value of V, specifies one or more elements from the set D that store the data specified by volume V. Then there is the step of routing the requests to a switching fabric connected to the network elements based on the file system request'"'"'s ID according to the mapping function to disk elements connected to the switching fabric.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for responding to file system requests having file IDs comprising V, a volume identifier specifying the file system being accessed, and R, an integer, specifying the file within the file system being accessed comprising:
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D disk elements in which files are stored, where D is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer;
a switching fabric connected to the D disk elements to route requests to a corresponding disk element; and
N network elements connected to the switching fabric, each network element having a mapping function that for every value of V, specifies one or more elements from the set D that store the data specified by volume V, where N is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer and N+D is greater than or equal to 4, which receives the requests and causes the switching fabric to route the requests by their file ID according to the mapping function. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for responding to file system requests comprising the steps of:
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receiving file system requests having file IDs comprising V, a volume identifier specifying the file system being accessed, and R, an integer, specifying the file within the file system being accessed at network elements, each having a mapping function that for every value of V, specifies one or more elements from the set D that store the data specified by volume V; and
routing the requests to a switching fabric connected to the network elements based on the file system request'"'"'s ID according to the mapping function to disk elements connected to the switching fabric. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system for responding to file system requests having file IDs comprising V, a volume identifier specifying the file system being accessed, and R, an integer, specifying the file within the file system being accessed comprising:
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D disk elements in which files are stored, where D is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer;
a switching fabric connected to the D disk elements to route requests to a corresponding disk element; and
N network elements connected to the switching fabric, each network element having a mapping function that for every value of V, specifies one or more elements from the set D that store the data specified by volume V, where N is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer and N+D is greater than or equal to 4, wherein network elements and disk elements can be added dynamically.
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26. A system for responding to file system requests having file IDs comprising V, a volume identifier specifying the file system being accessed, and R, an integer, specifying the file within the file system being accessed comprising:
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D disk elements in which files are stored, where D is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer;
a switching fabric connected to the D disk elements to route requests to a corresponding disk element; and
N network elements connected to the switching fabric, each network element having a mapping function that for every value of V, specifies one or more elements from the set D that store the data specified by volume V, where N is greater than or equal to 2 and is an integer and N+D is greater than or equal to 4, wherein each network element has a network port through which requests are received by the respective network element wherein all the network elements and disk elements together appear as a single system that can respond to any request at any network port of any network element.
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Specification