MULTIPLE FILE COMPACTION FOR NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE

• US 20090216788A1
• Filed: 02/27/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ocarina Networks, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Brueggemann, Eric, Rao, Goutham, George, Carter, Bashyam, Murali, Taylor, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,534 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems

Abstract

Mechanisms are provided for optimizing multiple files in an efficient format that allows maintenance of the original namespace. Multiple files and associated metadata are written to a suitcase file. The suitcase file includes index information for accessing compressed data associated with compacted files. A hardlink to the suitcase file includes an index number used to access the appropriate index information. A simulated link to a particular file maintains the name of the particular file prior to compaction.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor operable to create a suitcase file operable to hold metadata and compressed data associated with a plurality of files on a network attached storage system;

storage operable to hold metadata for each of the plurality of files and compressed data for each of the plurality of files, wherein the metadata for each of the plurality of files is stored redundantly along with commit bits in the suitcase file;

wherein the processor is further operable to access the plurality of files in the suitcase file using index information included in the suitcase file.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein an index number in a file name is used to access index information in the suitcase file to allow access to corresponding compressed data in the suitcase file.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata is stored twice and surrounded with commit bits.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein index information comprises a next_index and a next_offset.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein index information further comprises data_length and data_info fields for each of the plurality of files.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein file name index number are included in each of the hard links to the plurality of files in the suitcase file.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a simulated link is mapped to each of the hard links.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the simulated link to a compressed file has a name matching the name of the file in precompressed form.

9. A method, comprising:

creating a suitcase file operable to hold metadata and compressed data associated with a plurality of files on a network attached storage system;

storing metadata for each of the plurality of files redundantly in the suitcase file, wherein commit bits are stored with the metadata;

writing compressed data corresponding to each of the plurality files in the suitcase file on the network attached storage system;

storing index information in the suitcase file, the index information allowing access to each of the plurality of files in the suitcase file.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein an index number in a file name is used to access index information in the suitcase file to allow access to corresponding compressed data in the suitcase file.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the metadata is stored twice and surrounded with commit bits.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein index information comprises a next_index and a next_offset.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein index information further comprises data_length and data_info fields for each of the plurality of files.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein file name index number are included in each of the hard links to the plurality of files in the suitcase file.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein a simulated link is mapped to each of the hard links.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the simulated link to a compressed file has a name matching the name of the file in precompressed form.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

means for creating a suitcase file operable to hold metadata and compressed data associated with a plurality of files on a network attached storage system;

means for storing metadata for each of the plurality of files redundantly in the suitcase file, wherein commit bits are stored with the metadata;

means for writing compressed data corresponding to each of the plurality files in the suitcase file on the network attached storage system;

means for storing index information in the suitcase file, the index information allowing access to each of the plurality of files in the suitcase file.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein an index number in a file name is used to access index information in the suitcase file to allow access to corresponding compressed data in the suitcase file.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the metadata is stored twice and surrounded with commit bits.

20. A computer readable medium having computer code embodied therein, the computer readable medium comprising:

computer code for creating a suitcase file operable to hold metadata and compressed data associated with a plurality of files on a network attached storage system;

computer code for storing metadata for each of the plurality of files redundantly in the suitcase file, wherein commit bits are stored with the metadata;

computer code for writing compressed data corresponding to each of the plurality files in the suitcase file on the network attached storage system;

computer code for storing index information in the suitcase file, the index information allowing access to each of the plurality of files in the suitcase file.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein an index number in a file name is used to access index information in the suitcase file to allow access to corresponding compressed data in the suitcase file.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the metadata is stored twice and surrounded with commit bits.