VIRTUAL FILE SYSTEM INTERFACE FOR COMMUNICATING CHANGES OF METADATA IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20130110787A1
• Filed: 10/27/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Garimella, Neeta, Klingenberg, Bernhard J., Smith, Mark A., Minniear, Ryan J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,514,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/667
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/192 Implementing virtual folder structures

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to a virtual file system for communicating changes in metadata associated with data archived in a data storage system to applications. An aspect of the invention concerns a system that comprises a virtual file system for storing metadata files wherein each metadata file is associated with an archived data file, and a virtual file system interface coupled to the virtual file system for exposing changes in the metadata files to the applications.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first virtual file system for storing metadata files, each metadata file being associated with an archived data file; and

an interface coupled to the first virtual file system for exposing changes in the metadata files to applications using the archived data files.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata files are in a second virtual file system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata files comprise control data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the control data comprise conditions of the archived data files.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the data file conditions comprise at least one of the location of one of the archived data files, an archived data file version identifier, and an archived document index level identifier.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the changes include at least one of creating, deleting, and modifying a data file attribute.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein in response to a change in one of the metadata files, the interface sets a flag to indicate that the data file corresponding to the changed metadata file is to be re-indexed.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface allows a system-wide deletion of a data file attribute.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface is a POSIX interface.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface is a File system in Userspace (FUSE) interface.

11. A computer implemented method comprising:

providing a virtual file system for storing metadata files wherein each metadata file is associated with an archived data file; and

exposing, through an interface coupled to the virtual file system, changes in the metadata files to applications using the archived data files.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata files are in a second virtual file system.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata files comprise conditions of the archived data files.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata changes comprise making the archived data file immutable based on a retention policy.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein in response to a change in one of the metadata files, the interface sets a flag to indicate that the data file corresponding to the changed metadata file is to be re-indexed.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the interface is a File system in Userspace (FUSE) interface.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:

program code configured to provide a virtual file system for storing metadata files wherein each metadata file is associated with an archived data file; and

program code configured to expose, through an interface coupled to the virtual file system, changes in the metadata files to applications using the archived data files.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein in response to a change in one of the metadata files, the interface sets a flag to indicate that the data file corresponding to the changed metadata file is to be re-indexed.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the interface provides conditions of the files in the system, the conditions comprising at least one of the location of one of the archived data files, an archived data file version identifier, and an archived document level identifier.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the changes include at least one of creating, deleting, and modifying a file attribute.