Storage system
First Claim
1. A storage system comprising:
- a plurality of physical devices having different device characteristics from one another; and
a computer connected to and accessing the plurality of physical devices,wherein the computer forms, in a kernel space, a device driver to operate the plurality of physical devices, and at least one logical file system comprised of at least two of the plurality of physical devices, andwherein the logical file system includes;
a device characteristic acquiring unit to acquire, through the device driver, each of the device characteristics regarding the types of the physical devices configuring the file system when a file system modifying operation of the file system is performed wherein the types of the physical devices include at least two of a device for sequential access, a device for random access, and a device for WORM (Write Once Read Many);
a device characteristic holding unit to store the device characteristics for the respective physical devices obtained by the device characteristic acquiring unit;
a file purpose interpreting unit to interpret a purpose and attribute of a file to register each device characteristic as a characteristic flag in file management information when a file operation for preparing the file management information of a file storing process is performed, wherein the purpose and attribute of the file includes information identifying an access type as being sequential, random, or WORM (‘
Write Once Read Many); and
a storage device decision unit to decide and determine one of the physical devices for storing the file on the basis of the characteristic flag of the file management information and information from the device characteristic holding unit when a file operation for actually writing a file in the file storing process is performed,wherein the file system includes means for causing, when a file operation for preparing the file management information of the file storing process is performed, a user to designate a flag representing the device characteristic of the file as an argument of the file operation, andwhen the flag representing the device characteristic of the file is additionally written, the file purpose interpreting unit operates to register the flag representing the device characteristic of the file as a characteristic flag in the file management information without interpreting the purpose and attribute of the file.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
At least two devices having different characteristics are provided as one file system, and the file system stores a file in a device according to the file purpose. In file system operation, a device characteristic acquiring unit acquires characteristic information of the respective devices by using a device characteristic database, a device characteristic acquiring interface, and stores the information in the device characteristic holding. In file operation for preparing file management information in file storing process, a file purpose interpreting unit interprets the purpose and attribute of the file and registers a characteristic flag representing the characteristic of the file in the file management information. In file operation for actually writing a file, a storage device decision unit decides a file storage location device on the characteristic flag in the file management information and information of the device characteristic holding unit to perform a device free region securing process.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A storage system comprising:
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a plurality of physical devices having different device characteristics from one another; and a computer connected to and accessing the plurality of physical devices, wherein the computer forms, in a kernel space, a device driver to operate the plurality of physical devices, and at least one logical file system comprised of at least two of the plurality of physical devices, and wherein the logical file system includes; a device characteristic acquiring unit to acquire, through the device driver, each of the device characteristics regarding the types of the physical devices configuring the file system when a file system modifying operation of the file system is performed wherein the types of the physical devices include at least two of a device for sequential access, a device for random access, and a device for WORM (Write Once Read Many); a device characteristic holding unit to store the device characteristics for the respective physical devices obtained by the device characteristic acquiring unit; a file purpose interpreting unit to interpret a purpose and attribute of a file to register each device characteristic as a characteristic flag in file management information when a file operation for preparing the file management information of a file storing process is performed, wherein the purpose and attribute of the file includes information identifying an access type as being sequential, random, or WORM (‘
Write Once Read Many); anda storage device decision unit to decide and determine one of the physical devices for storing the file on the basis of the characteristic flag of the file management information and information from the device characteristic holding unit when a file operation for actually writing a file in the file storing process is performed, wherein the file system includes means for causing, when a file operation for preparing the file management information of the file storing process is performed, a user to designate a flag representing the device characteristic of the file as an argument of the file operation, and when the flag representing the device characteristic of the file is additionally written, the file purpose interpreting unit operates to register the flag representing the device characteristic of the file as a characteristic flag in the file management information without interpreting the purpose and attribute of the file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification