Methods and systems for providing directory services for file systems
First Claim
1. A method for incremental archiving of information, the method comprising:
- establishing an incremental threshold time;
providing a query via a directory services component interface to a database comprising information regarding contents of a file system, the query for an identification of modified files, on the file system, that have been modified since the incremental threshold time;
receiving a set of modified file identifiers corresponding to the modified files; and
archiving file contents of the modified files.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems are disclosed for providing incremental backup and restore operations for a file system having a large number of files. A file system accessing a mass storage device is augmented by including an enhanced directory services component (EDSC) that has an associated EDSC database that contains file system information regarding contents of the file system including file attributes. Accordingly, high-performance backup and restore operations can be performed by directly or indirectly querying the EDSC database to obtain fill attributes rather than traversing the file system'"'"'s native file attribute data structures. This enables the file system to provide more consistent response to applications requesting file status independent of the number of files stored in the file system.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for incremental archiving of information, the method comprising:
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establishing an incremental threshold time;
providing a query via a directory services component interface to a database comprising information regarding contents of a file system, the query for an identification of modified files, on the file system, that have been modified since the incremental threshold time;
receiving a set of modified file identifiers corresponding to the modified files; and
archiving file contents of the modified files. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. Apparatus for providing incremental backup and restore operations for a file system having a large number of files, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one mass storage device;
at least one primary file system logically superposed upon the mass storage device, the primary file system having a primary file system interface comprising a directory services component interface coupled to a database comprising information regarding contents of the primary file system, wherein the database contains file attribute information; and
at least one computer-implemented application being performed by a processor, the application accessing files in the primary file system via the primary file system interface, wherein the application is operable to access the file attribute information from the database. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for incremental restoration of a primary file system containing a large number of files, the method comprising:
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initializing the primary file system;
restoring a directory services component database associated with the primary file system, wherein the directory services component database comprises file system contents information regarding contents of the primary file system;
receiving a plurality of requests to open a plurality of files associated with the primary file system;
determining by way of a directory services component coupled to the directory services component database whether a requested file in the plurality of files can be provided from the primary file system; and
initiating a restore request from an archive source if the requested file cannot be provided from the primary file system but can be provided from the archive source. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification