Program and method for file access control in a storage system

• US 20050251508A1
• Filed: 02/11/2005
• Published: 11/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Shimizu, Masaaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,865,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

In a system having plural storage devices, high-speed file access is obtained by arranging files optimally without the trouble of setting for each file to which storage device the file is allocated. A storage system comprising: nodes coupled to one another via a network; storage devices connected to the nodes; a file attribute detecting module that detects one or more file attributes; a file access rule information storing unit that stores information about one or more file access rules that are associated with the file attribute; and a file access control module that controls access to a file in the storage devices in conformity with the one or more file access rules that are associated with the one or more detected file attributes.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

nodes coupled to one another via a network;

storage devices coupled to the nodes;

a file attribute detecting module that detects one or more file attributes;

a file access rule information storing unit that stores information about one or more file access rules that are associated with the file attribute; and

a file access control module that controls access to a file in the storage devices in conformity with the one or more file access rules that are associated with the detected one or more file attributes.

2. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the file access rule information storing unit comprises:

a file access rule storing unit that stores the one or more file access rules; and

a file access rule selection policy storing unit where one or more policies that associate the file access rules to the file attributes are stored, and

wherein the file access control module;

selects the file access rule which are associated with the detected file attribute from the file access rule selection policy storing unit;

reads the selected file access rule out of the file access rule storing unit; and

controls access to a file in the storage devices in conformity with the read file access rule.

3. The storage system according to claim 2,

wherein the policy have an order of priority determined based on the file attribute, and

wherein the file access control module controls access to a file in the storage devices in conformity with the file access rule that are associated with the file attribute by a policy which is high in the order of priority.

4. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the file attributes include static file attributes and/or dynamic file attributes,

wherein the static file attributes include at least one of a name of a directory to which the file belongs, a name of the file, a size of the file, a name of a user who possesses the file, and a name of a user who has created the file, and

wherein the dynamic file attributes include at least one of a name of a program that accesses the file, an identifier of a process of accessing the file, a name of a user who accesses the file, a type of access to the file, and an unit of access to the file.

5. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein the file access rules include, at least, a storage device allocation rule that determines to which storage device a file to be accessed is allocated, a striping rule that determines how the file is striped, a block size rule that determines the block size, and an access rule that determines how the file is accessed.

6. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein the information is added to the file access rule information storing unit through a graphical user interface, a system call, an environment variable or a setting file.

7. A file access control program that causes a storage system, which is composed of nodes coupled to one another via a network and storage devices coupled to the nodes, to execute the following steps:

a first step of detecting one or more file attributes; and

a second step of controlling access to a file in the storage devices in conformity with information about one or more file access rules that are associated with the one or more file attributes.

8. The file access control program according to claim 7,

wherein the information about one or more file access rules contains one or more policies that associate the file access rules to the file attributes,

wherein the second step includes:

a third step of selecting the file access rule that are associated with the detected file attribute; and

a fourth step of reading the selected file access rule, and

wherein, in the second step, access to a file in the storage devices is controlled in conformity with the read file access rule.

9. The file access control program according to claim 8, wherein, in the third step, an order of priority of the policy which is determined based on the file attribute is consulted to select the file access rule that are associated with high priority file attribute.

10. The file access control program according to claim 7,

wherein the file attributes include static file attributes and/or dynamic file attributes,

wherein the static file attributes include at least one of a name of a directory to which the file belongs, a name of the file, a size of the file, a name of a user who possesses the file, and a name of a user who has created the file, and

wherein the dynamic file attributes include at least one of a name of a program that accesses the file belongs, an identifier of a process of accessing the file, a name of a user who accesses the file, a type of access to the file, and an unit of access to the file.

11. The file access control program according to claim 7, wherein the file access rules include, at least, a storage device allocation rule, that determines to which storage device a file to be accessed is allocated, a striping rule, that determines how the file is striped, a block size rule, that determines the block size, and an access rule, that determines how the file is accessed.

12. The file access control program according to claim 7, wherein the file access control program further causes the storage system to execute a step of adding the information about file access rules through a graphical user interface, a system call, an environment variable or a setting file.

13. A file access control method for a storage system, which is composed of nodes coupled to one another via a network and storage devices coupled to the nodes, comprising:

a first step of detecting one or more file attributes; and

a second step of controlling access to a file in the storage devices in conformity with information about one or more file access rules that are associated with the one or more file attributes.

14. The file access control method according to claim 13,

wherein the information about one or more file access rules contains one or more policies that associate the file access rules to the file attributes,

wherein the second step includes:

a third step of selecting the file access rule that are associated with the detected file attribute; and

a fourth step of reading the selected file access rule, and wherein, in the second step, access to a file in the storage devices is controlled in conformity with the read file access rule.

15. The file access control method according to claim 14, wherein, in the third step, an order of priority of the policy which is determined based on the file attribute is consulted to select the file access rule that are associated with high priority file attribute.

16. The file access control method according to claim 13,

wherein the file attributes include static file attributes and/or dynamic file attributes,

wherein the static file attributes include at least one of a name of a directory to which the file belongs, a name of the file, a size of the file, a name of a user who possesses the file, and a name of a user who has created the file, and

wherein the dynamic file attributes include at least one of a name of a program that accesses the file belongs, an identifier of a process of accessing the file, a name of a user who accesses the file, a type of access to the file, and an unit of access to the file.

17. The file access control method according to claim 13, wherein the file access rules include, at least, a storage device allocation rule, that determines to which storage device a file to be accessed is allocated, a striping rule, that determines how the file is striped, a block size rule, that determines the block size, and an access rule, that determines how the file is accessed.

18. The file access control method according to claim 13, wherein the file access control program further causes the storage system to execute a step of adding the information about file access rules through a graphical user interface, a system call, an environment variable or a setting file.