SNAPSHOT BASED SEARCH

• US 20100312783A1
• Filed: 06/05/2009
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tamura, Eric Brandon, BRADY, DONALD JAMES
• Granted Patent: US 8,751,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention receive a search query from a user. In response to the search query, a snapshot of the file system in its current state is taken. A coherent search of the snapshot is performed using the search query. Results of the search are presented to a user. In other embodiments, a subsequent snapshot of the file system is taken after the first search is finished. A difference between the first snapshot and the subsequent snapshot is computed, and this difference is searched using the search query. Results of both searches are merged and results are presented to a user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, in response to a search request, a first snapshot of a file system;

performing, by a data processing system, a search of the first snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, after performing the search of the first snapshot, a second snapshot of the file system;

performing a search of a difference between the first snapshot and the second snapshot;

merging results of the search of the first snapshot with results of the search of the difference between the first snapshot and the second snapshot.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the search of the first snapshot searches through metadata associated with files of the file system.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the search of the first snapshot searches through full text content of files of the file system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the file system is a tree-based file system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying results of the search through the first snapshot.

7. A machine readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

in response to receiving a search query, causing an initial snapshot of a file system to be created;

searching through the initial snapshot using the search query to generate initial results;

providing the initial results for display to a user.

8. The machine readable storage medium of claim 7, the method further comprising:

after searching through the initial snapshot, causing a subsequent snapshot of the file system to be created;

searching a subset of the subsequent snapshot using the search query to generate subsequent results, the subset of the subsequent snapshot corresponding to a difference between the subsequent snapshot and the initial snapshot;

merging the subsequent results into the initial results.

9. The machine readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein searching through the initial snapshot comprises searching through metadata associated with files stored in the file system.

10. The machine readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein searching through the initial snapshot further comprises searching through full text content of the files stored in the file system.

11. The machine readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the file system is a tree-based file system.

12. A data processing system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor through a bus;

an input/output device coupled to the processor through the bus;

a display device coupled to the processor through the bus;

a file system stored on a machine readable storage device coupled to the processor through the bus;

instructions stored in the memory which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive a search query from the input/output device,

snap a current state of the file system to be searched to create a first snapshot,

search the first snapshot for elements matching the search query,

display results of the search on the display device.

13. The data processing system of claim 12, the instructions further comprising:

in response to completing the search, snap a state of the file system after the search to create a second snapshot,

compute a difference between the first snapshot and the second snapshot,

search the difference for elements matching the search query, merge results of the search of the first snapshot with results of the search of the difference.

14. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a command to search a tree-based file system, the command comprising a search query;

means for taking an initial snapshot of the tree-based file system;

means for searching through the initial snapshot using the search query to build a set of initial results;

means for taking a subsequent snapshot of the tree-based file system;

means for generating a difference between the subsequent snapshot and the initial snapshot;

means for searching through the difference using the search query to build a set of subsequent results;

means for building a set of merged results comprising a union of the set of initial results and the set of subsequent results;

means for displaying the set of merged results on a hardware display device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein searching through the initial snapshot comprises searching through metadata associated with files stored in the tree-based file system and further comprises searching through full text content associated with the files.