FILE SYSTEM OPERATION ON MULTI-TIERED VOLUME

• US 20140280392A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Christiansen, Neal Robert, Chan, Daniel, Das, Rajsekhar, Pang, Juan-Lee, Smith, Malcolm James, Herron, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 9,116,904 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/822
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems

Abstract

A file system that operates on an underlying volume that has multiple tiers, each tier including a particular trait set. Upon creating or otherwise identifying a file system namespace (such as a directory or file) that is in a volume or that is to be included within the volume, a storage trait set to be applied corresponding to the file system namespace is identified. Then, the storage trait set is compared against the trait sets for the multiple tiers to identify a tier into which to store the file system namespace. The file system namespace is then caused to be stored within the identified tier. Thus, the file system is provided with a volume that has multiple tiers (each having different trait sets) to choose from in storing files.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage media having thereon one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method for operating a file system on an underlying volume, the method comprising:

an act of acquiring logical storage locations and trait sets for each of a plurality of tiers of a volume;

an act of identifying a file system namespace that is either in the volume or that is to be placed in the volume;

an act of determining a storage trait set corresponding to the file system namespace;

an act of identifying a trait set of a particular tier of the volume;

an act of identifying the particular tier of the volume into which to store the file system namespace based on matching the corresponding storage trait set of the file system namespace to the trait set of the identified tier; and

an act of causing the file system namespace to be stored within the identified tier of the volume.

2. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the file system namespace is a file.

3. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the file system namespace is a directory.

4. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the act of identifying a file system namespace comprises an act of creating a file system namespace within the volume.

5. The computer program product in accordance with claim 4, wherein the storage trait set comprises a static trait set.

6. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the storage trait set comprises at least one dynamic trait set, the method further comprising an act of monitoring the dynamic trait set to determine that the dynamic trait set has changed, wherein an act of identifying a tier of the volume into which to store the file system namespace, and the act of causing the file system namespace to be stored within the identified tier of the volume are both performed in responses to the monitored change in the dynamic trait set.

7. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the act of determining a storage trait set corresponding to the file system namespace is based at least in part on user input.

8. The computer program product in accordance with claim 7, wherein the user input is an expression of one or more mandatory traits for the file system namespace.

9. The computer program product in accordance with claim 7, wherein the user input is an expression of one or more optional traits for the file system namespace.

10. The computer program product in accordance with claim 7, wherein the user input is an expression of one or more user goals for the file system namespace.

11. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the act of identifying a trait set of a particular tier of the volume comprises the following:

an act of identifying at least one trait that is expressly associated with the tier; and

an act of identifying at least one trait that is inherited by the tier from the volume.

12. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the trait set of the identified tier comprises a performant trait.

13. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the trait set of the identified tier comprises a resiliency trait.

14. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the trait set of the identified tier comprises an encryption property.

15. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the trait set of the identified tier comprises a compression property.

16. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the trait set of the identified tier comprises at least one of a transience property or a write-limitation property.

17. A method for operating a file system on an underlying volume, the method comprising:

an act of identifying a trait set for each of a plurality of tiers within a volume including a particular trait set of a particular tier;

an act of identifying a file system namespace that is either already in or that is to be provided within a volume;

an act of determining a storage trait set to be applied to the file system namespace;

an act of identifying one of the plurality of tiers that the file system namespace is to be stored in based on matching the corresponding storage trait set of the file system namespace to the trait set of the identified tier; and

an act of causing the file system namespace to be store within the identified tier of the volume.

18. The method in accordance with claim 17, wherein the act of identifying a trait set for each of the plurality of tiers within the volume comprises an act of querying the volume for a logical location of the plurality of tiers and the trait sets for each of the plurality of tiers.

19. The method in accordance with claim 18, wherein the act of querying the volume is performed during an act of mounting the volume to the file system.

20. A system comprising:

a file system that operates on a volume that comprises a plurality of tiers of the volume to the file system, each of the plurality of tiers corresponding to a trait set of the underlying storage, the file system configured to performing the following;

an act of acquiring logical storage locations and trait sets for each of a plurality of tiers of a volume;

an act of identifying a file system namespace within the volume;

an act of determining a storage trait set corresponding to the file system namespace;

an act of identifying a trait set of a particular tier of the volume;

an act of identifying the particular tier of the volume into which to store the file system namespace based on matching the corresponding storage trait set of the file system namespace to the trait set of the identified tier; and

an act of causing the file system namespace to be store within the identified tier of the volume.