VIRTUAL DISK FROM NETWORK SHARES AND FILE SERVERS
First Claim
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1. A method for providing a virtual disk, the method comprising:
- providing a computer system including a processor that executes an operating system, wherein the computer system is in communication with a cloud that stores data;
the processor creating a disk layer interface that interfaces between the operating system and the virtual disk;
the processor creating metadata for the operating system to access file data stored in the virtual disk, wherein the metadata provides information to a file system for retrieving file data from and writing file data to the virtual disk; and
the processor exposing the virtual disk to the operating system, wherein the virtual disk appears as a local disk to the operating system and wherein the file data is stored in a network share in the cloud.
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Abstract
A system manages a file directory containing data that is exposed by a file-server. The system provides a block-device layered on top of a network share that treats the underlying network share as read-only but allows local file-system semantics to operate on top of the network share. The end-result is a virtual disk containing a locally recognizable file-system that can read and write from the perspective of the operating system but where the data is store in the cloud as network shares. The virtual disk appears to be a fully functional local disk with all the expected local disk semantics.
113 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for providing a virtual disk, the method comprising:
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providing a computer system including a processor that executes an operating system, wherein the computer system is in communication with a cloud that stores data; the processor creating a disk layer interface that interfaces between the operating system and the virtual disk; the processor creating metadata for the operating system to access file data stored in the virtual disk, wherein the metadata provides information to a file system for retrieving file data from and writing file data to the virtual disk; and the processor exposing the virtual disk to the operating system, wherein the virtual disk appears as a local disk to the operating system and wherein the file data is stored in a network share in the cloud. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that cause a computing system to execute a method for interacting with a virtual disk, the instructions comprising:
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instructions to receive a read request, for data associated with a file stored on the virtual disk, from an operating system; instructions to trigger a virtual file system layer, wherein the virtual file system layer exposes block data stored in a network share in a cloud as data stored in a local disk; instructions to read metadata associated with the file instructions to access the network share via a pointer stored in the metadata; instructions to read the block data stored in the network share; and instructions to return the block data to the operating system as the file. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A server, comprising:
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a processor, the processor operable to execute; an operating system; a virtual disk, wherein the virtual disk is exposed to the operating system as a local disk, and wherein the virtual disk is operable to store data in a network share on a cloud; and a virtualization module in communication with the operating system and the virtual disk, the virtualization module operable to expose the virtual disk to the operating system as a local disk. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification