Method and apparatus for performing bulk file system attribute retrieval
First Claim
1. A method of collecting file system object attributes in response to a Bulk Attribute Retrieval (BAR) request includes the step of:
- decoding the BAR request to identify a file system tree;
identifying file system objects associated with the file system tree and retrieving attributes of the identified file objects; and
selectively storing the retrieved attributes of each identified object in a result file.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Accordingly a method and interface allows an attribute data base used by an Information Manager to be quickly populated and accurately maintained. A single Bulk Attribute Retrieval Request triggers the primary storage device to collect object attribute information. The method allows for selective collection of objects and attributes by providing filters and attribute lists in the Requests. The Request may be used to provide an incremental scan with appropriate time stamp filtering. In addition, the size of the results can be controlled by the IM by eliminating attributes that are not of interest to the IM. The Request is advantageously issued over a FileMover interface, which is an HTTP connection, and encoded in XML, allowing the IM to easily customize the Request as desired.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method of collecting file system object attributes in response to a Bulk Attribute Retrieval (BAR) request includes the step of:
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decoding the BAR request to identify a file system tree;
identifying file system objects associated with the file system tree and retrieving attributes of the identified file objects; and
selectively storing the retrieved attributes of each identified object in a result file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of collecting file system object attributes includes the step of:
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encoding a Bulk Attribute Retrieval (BAR) request including a file system root and an output file name;
forwarding the BAR request to a storage system to retrieve attributes associated with objects in the file system;
receiving a response indicating that a collection of attributes has completed; and
retrieving an output file having the output file name from the storage system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An apparatus for generating a Bulk Attribute Retrieval (BAR) result including attributes associated with file system objects includes:
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decode logic for decoding a BAR Request to determine a file system root;
a file system, stored on a computer readable medium, the file system including a plurality of objects, each object having a plurality of attributes;
means for searching the file system to identifying file system objects associated with the file system root and for retrieving attributes of the identified file objects;
a data store; and
means for selectively storing the retrieved attributes of each identified object in a result file in the data store. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An application programming interface, stored in a computer readable medium of a file server, includes:
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program code operable when executed in response to a Bulk Attribute Retrieval (BAR) request to;
decode the BAR request to identify a file system root;
identify file system objects associated with the file system tree and retrieve attributes of the identified file objects; and
selectively store the retrieved attributes of each identified object in a result file.
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34. A file server comprising a computer readable medium having program code stored thereon, the program code including:
a Bulk Attribute Retrieval (BAR) instruction, the BAR instruction comprising a file system path name and an output file name, the BAR instruction operable, when executed, to cause the file server to selectively collect attributes of objects in the file system associated with the file system path name for placement into an output file matching the output file name. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
Specification