Virtual file system
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Abstract
A virtual file system and method. The system architecture enables a plurality of underlying file systems running on various file servers to be “virtualized” into one or more “virtual volumes” that appear as a local file system to clients that access the virtual volumes. The system also enables the storage spaces of the underlying file systems to be aggregated into a single virtual storage space, which can be dynamically scaled by adding or removing file servers without taking any of the file systems offline and in a manner transparent to the clients. This functionality is enabled through a software “virtualization” filter on the client that intercepts file system requests and a virtual file system driver on each file server. The system also provides for load balancing file accesses by distributing files across the various file servers in the system, through migration of data files between servers.
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Citations
50 Claims
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1-30. -30. (canceled)
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31. A method of virtualizing a plurality of file systems, comprising:
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aggregating the file systems into a single virtual storage volume;
creating in a master logical volume a virtual directory and file hierarchy including a virtual pathname for each file stored in the virtual storage volume;
for each file in the virtual directory and file hierarchy, associating with the file a metadata and a pointer to the file contents stored in one or more slave logical volumes; and
maintaining on each client that accesses the virtual storage volume a copy of configuration information that identifies a file system used to host the master logical volume and one or more file systems used to host the slave logical volumes. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for virtualizing a plurality of file systems, comprising:
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a communication interface used to communicate with the file systems; and
a processor configured to aggregate the file systems into a single virtual storage volume, create in a master logical volume a virtual directory and file hierarchy including a virtual pathname for each file stored in the virtual storage volume, and for each file in the virtual directory and file hierarchy, associate with the file a metadata and a pointer to the file contents stored in one or more slave logical volumes;
wherein a copy of configuration information that identifies a file system used to host the master logical volume and one or more file systems used to host the slave logical volumes is maintained on each client that accesses the virtual storage volume. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A computer program product for virtualizing a plurality of file systems, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:
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aggregating the file systems into a single virtual storage volume;
creating in a master logical volume a virtual directory and file hierarchy including a virtual pathname for each file stored in the virtual storage volume;
for each file in the virtual directory and file hierarchy, associating with the file a metadata and a pointer to the file contents stored in one or more slave logical volumes; and
maintaining on each client that accesses the virtual storage volume a copy of configuration information that identifies a file system used to host the master logical volume and one or more file systems used to host the slave logical volumes.
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Specification