Logical grouping and management of redundant objects in storage systems

• US 20070043733A1
• Filed: 08/17/2005
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cannon, David, Dawson, Colin
• Granted Patent: US 7,610,291 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, wherein a determination is made that an object corresponding to a first client node has to be stored. A further determination is made as to whether the object has already been sent to a server node by a second client node, wherein the sent object is stored in the server node and is represented by a first entry, and wherein objects and representations of objects stored in the server node form a plurality of groups. The server node receives the object from the first client node, in response to determining that the object has not already been stored in the server node by the second client node. A second entry representing the object is stored at the server node, wherein the second entry references the first entry, in response to determining that the object has already been stored in the server node by the second client node.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining that an object corresponding to a first client node has to be stored;

determining whether the object has already been sent to a server node by a second client node, wherein the sent object is stored in the server node and is represented by a first entry, and wherein objects and representations of objects stored in the server node form a plurality of groups;

receiving, at the server node, the object from the first client node, in response to determining that the object has not already been stored in the server node by the second client node; and

storing a second entry representing the object at the server node, wherein the second entry references the first entry, in response to determining that the object has already been stored in the server node by the second client node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one object of a group associated with the first client node has been stored by the second client node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein group relationships between the objects stored on the server are preserved while reducing redundancy among the objects stored on the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of objects stored by the first and the second client nodes form at least one peer group, and wherein if one object of a peer group is deleted then the peer group is invalidated.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of objects stored by the first and the second client nodes form at least one delta-base group, and wherein a delta-base group comprises a base object and at least one delta object that indicates a change to the base object.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining node identifiers corresponding to client nodes;

maintaining object identifiers corresponding to the objects;

maintaining group identifiers corresponding to the plurality of groups;

maintaining at least one group type corresponding to the plurality of groups; and

processing the plurality of groups in a database based on the node identifiers, the object identifiers, the group identifiers, and the at least one group type.

7. A system, wherein a server node is coupled to a plurality of client nodes, the system comprising:

memory; and

processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is operable to;

(i) determine that an object corresponding to a first client node has to be stored;

(ii) determine whether the object has already been sent to the server node by a second client node, wherein the sent object is stored in the server node and is represented by a first entry, and wherein objects and representations of objects stored in the server node form a plurality of groups;

(iii) receive, at the server node, the object from the first client node, in response to determining that the object has not already been stored in the server node by the second client node; and

(iv) store a second entry representing the object at the server node, wherein the second entry references the first entry, in response to determining that the object has already been stored in the server node by the second client node.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one object of a group associated with the first client node has been stored by the second client node.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein group relationships between the objects stored on the server are preserved while reducing redundancy among the objects stored on the server.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein a plurality of objects stored by the first and the second client nodes form at least one peer group, and wherein if one object of a peer group is deleted then the peer group is invalidated.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein a plurality of objects stored by the first and the second client nodes form at least one delta-base group, and wherein a delta-base group comprises a base object and at least one delta object that indicates a change to the base object.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further operable to:

maintain node identifiers corresponding to client nodes;

maintain object identifiers corresponding to the objects;

maintain group identifiers corresponding to the plurality of groups;

maintain at least one group type corresponding to the plurality of groups; and

process the plurality of groups in a database based on the node identifiers, the object identifiers, the group identifiers, and the at least one group type.

13. An article of manufacture for controlling a server node that is coupled to a plurality of client nodes, wherein the article of manufacture is capable of causing operations, the operations comprising:

determining that an object corresponding to a first client node has to be stored;

determining whether the object has already been sent to the server node by a second client node, wherein the sent object is stored in the server node and is represented by a first entry, and wherein objects and representations of objects stored in the server node form a plurality of groups;

receiving, at the server node, the object from the first client node, in response to determining that the object has not already been stored in the server node by the second client node; and

storing a second entry representing the object at the server node, wherein the second entry references the first entry, in response to determining that the object has already been stored in the server node by the second client node.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein at least one object of a group associated with the first client node has been stored by the second client node.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein group relationships between the objects stored on the server are preserved while reducing redundancy among the objects stored on the server.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein a plurality of objects stored by the first and the second client nodes form at least one peer group, and wherein if one object of a peer group is deleted then the peer group is invalidated.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein a plurality of objects stored by the first and the second client nodes form at least one delta-base group, and wherein a delta-base group comprises a base object and at least one delta object that indicates a change to the base object.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the article of manufacture is a computer readable medium, the operations further comprising:

maintaining node identifiers corresponding to client nodes;

maintaining object identifiers corresponding to the objects;

maintaining group identifiers corresponding to the plurality of groups;

maintaining at least one group type corresponding to the plurality of groups; and

processing the plurality of groups in a database based on the node identifiers, the object identifiers, the group identifiers, and the at least one group type.

19. A method for deploying computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing:

determining that an object corresponding to a first client node has to be stored;

determining whether the object has already been sent to a server node by a second client node, wherein the sent object is stored in the server node and is represented by a first entry, and wherein objects and representations of objects stored in the server node form a plurality of groups;

receiving, at the server node, the object from the first client node, in response to determining that the object has not already been stored in the server node by the second client node; and

storing a second entry representing the object at the server node, wherein the second entry references the first entry, in response to determining that the object has already been stored in the server node by the second client node.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one object of a group associated with the first client node has been stored by the second client node.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein group relationships between the objects stored on the server are preserved while reducing redundancy among the objects stored on the server.

22. A system, comprising:

a server node;

a plurality of client nodes coupled to the server node;

means for determining that an object corresponding to a first client node has to be stored;

means for determining whether the object has already been sent to a server node by a second client node, wherein the sent object is stored in the server node and is represented by a first entry, and wherein objects and representations of objects stored in the server node form a plurality of groups;

means for receiving, at the server node, the object from the first client node, in response to determining that the object has not already been stored in the server node by the second client node; and

means for storing a second entry representing the object at the server node, wherein the second entry references the first entry, in response to determining that the object has already been stored in the server node by the second client node.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein at least one object of a group associated with the first client node has been stored by the second client node.

24. The method of claim 33, wherein group relationships between the objects stored on the server are preserved while reducing redundancy among the objects stored on the server.