Method and apparatus for encapsulating a virtual filer on a filer
First Claim
1. A method for encapsulating a virtual server on a server, comprising:
- creating an instance of the virtual server executing on the server;
storing external and internal configuration information describing the virtual server instance on storage media of the server, wherein the storage media comprises one or more disks coupled to the server, the external configuration information describing resources assigned to the virtual server and capabilities available to the virtual server, the internal configuration information controlling operation of one or more protocol modules associated with the virtual server;
storing the external configuration information in a global registry on a volume of the server; and
storing the internal configuration information in a private registry on one of a volume or qtree assigned to the virtual server.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An architecture provides the ability to create and maintain multiple instances of virtual servers, such as virtual filers (vfilers), within a server, such as a filer. A vfiler is a logical partitioning of network and storage resources of the filer platform to establish an instance of a multi-protocol server. Each vfiler is allocated a subset of dedicated units of storage resources, such as volumes or logical sub-volumes (qtrees), and one or more network address resources. Each vfiler is also allowed shared access to a file system resource of a storage operating system. To ensure controlled access to the allocated and shared resources, each vfiler is further assigned its own security domain for each access protocol. A vfiler boundary check is performed by the file system to verify that a current vfiler is allowed to access certain storage resources for a requested file stored on the filer platform.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method for encapsulating a virtual server on a server, comprising:
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creating an instance of the virtual server executing on the server; storing external and internal configuration information describing the virtual server instance on storage media of the server, wherein the storage media comprises one or more disks coupled to the server, the external configuration information describing resources assigned to the virtual server and capabilities available to the virtual server, the internal configuration information controlling operation of one or more protocol modules associated with the virtual server; storing the external configuration information in a global registry on a volume of the server; and storing the internal configuration information in a private registry on one of a volume or qtree assigned to the virtual server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. Apparatus configured to encapsulate a virtual filer (vfiler) on a filer, the apparatus comprising:
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a processing element of the filer; a memory coupled to the processing element; and a vfiler context structure stored in the memory and accessible by the processing element, the vfiler context structure having a plurality of fields adapted to hold external and internal configuration information describing the vfiler, the external configuration information describing resources assigned to the vfiler and capabilities available to the vfiler, the internal configuration information controlling operation of one or more protocol modules associated with the vfiler, said plurality of fields of said vfiler context structure including at least one of the following; a field that holds a name of the vfiler; a field that holds a universally unique identifier (UUID) associated with the vfiler; a field that holds a list of vfilers on the filer; a field that holds a network space indicator that binds a network interface to a network address space in which the vfiler participates;
ora field that holds a first reference to information pertaining to a security domain of the vfiler to thereby enables controlled access to allocated and shared resources of the vfiler, wherein the first reference comprises a pointer to a file containing one or more identifiers associated with a password used to authenticate a user accessing the vfiler. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. Apparatus configured to encapsulate a virtual filer (vfiler) on a filer, the apparatus comprising:
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a processing element of the filer; a memory coupled to the processing element; and a vfiler context structure stored in the memory and accessible by the processing element, the vfiler context structure having a plurality of fields adapted to hold external and internal configuration information describing the vfiler, the external configuration information describing resources assigned to the vfiler and capabilities available to the vfiler, the internal configuration information controlling operation of one or more protocol modules associated with the vfiler, said plurality of fields of said vfiler context structure including at least one of the following; a field that holds a name of the vfiler; a field that holds a universally unique identifier (UUID) associated with the vfiler; a field that holds a list of vfilers on the filer; a field that holds a network space indicator that binds a network interface to a network address space in which the vfiler participates; a field that holds a first reference to information pertaining to a security domain of the vfiler to thereby enables controlled access to allocated and shared resources of the vfiler; a field that holds a second reference to information pertaining to a multi-protocol mapping procedure used to determine whether a client can access a requested resource of the vfiler;
orfields for holding a plurality of module data structures that includes information needed for an instance of one of a protocol and subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for encapsulating a virtual server on a server, comprising:
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creating an instance of the virtual server executing on the server; and storing external and internal configuration information describing the virtual server instance on storage media of the server, the external configuration information describing resources assigned to the virtual server and capabilities available to the virtual server, the internal configuration information controlling operation of one or more protocol modules associated with the virtual server, wherein the external configuration information is stored in a first registry of the server, and the internal configuration information is stored in a second registry on a volume assigned to the virtual server. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system to encapsulate a virtual server on a server, comprising:
the virtual server, configured by a processor as an instance executing on the server, wherein the virtual server is configured with an external and internal configuration information describing the virtual server on storage media of the server, the external configuration information describing resources assigned to the virtual server and capabilities available to the virtual server, the internal configuration information controlling operation of one or more protocol modules associated with the virtual server, wherein the external configuration information is stored in a of first registry the server, and the internal configuration information is stored in a second registry on a volume assigned to the virtual server. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
Specification