Transaction-aware caching for document metadata

• US 7,987,217 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2003
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Pitfield, David B., Long, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Stace; Brent
• Application Number:
  US10/448,888
• Publication Number:
  US 20030200197A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,979 Days
• Field of Search: 707/8, 707/10, 707/100, 707/826, 707/774, 709/217, 709/227, 711/130, 711/122, 711/121
• US Class Current: 707/826
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Techniques are provided for performing transaction-aware caching of metadata in an electronic file system. A mechanism is described for providing transaction-aware caching that uses a cache hierarchy, where the cache hierarchy includes uncommitted caches associated with sessions in an application and a committed cache that is shared among the sessions in that application. Techniques are described for caching document metadata, access control metadata and folder path metadata. Also described is a technique for using negative cache entries to avoid unnecessary communications with a server when applications repeatedly request non-existent data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a file server providing access to at least;

(a) a set of files logically stored in a database that is managed by a database server and (b) file metadata, corresponding to the set of files, also stored in the same database;

wherein the file server provides said access, in part, by receiving requests for files from a plurality of entities, retrieving the files from the database via the database server, and returning the files to the plurality of entities in response to the requests;

wherein the file server is separate from the database server;

the file server maintaining, at a location that is remote relative to both the database server and the database, at least one or more caches;

wherein the file server utilizes the one or more caches to cache said file metadata but not said set of files;

receiving, at the file server, a particular request from a particular entity to perform an operation, wherein the operation requires performance of a particular file operation with respect to a file that is stored in the database;

wherein performance of the particular file operation requires obtaining particular file metadata for the file that is stored in the database;

in response to the particular request, prior to issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining said particular file metadata for the particular file operation, the file server looking for an entry associated with said file in said one or more caches, that is caching said particular file metadata;

responsive to said entry being in the one or more caches, the file server performing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as cached in said entry, without issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining the particular file metadata for the particular file operation;

responsive to said entry not being in said one or more caches, the file server;

issuing one or more database commands to the database server that cause the database server to retrieve from said database said particular file metadata; and

performing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as retrieved from the database by the database server;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the particular request is generated in response to said particular file being referenced;

the entry is not in said one or more caches at the time of the particular request; and

the method further includes the step of placing the entry in said one or more caches in response to said file being referenced.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the particular request is generated in response to the particular file metadata being referenced;

the entry is not in said one or more caches at the time of the particular request; and

the method further includes the step of placing the entry in said one or more caches in response to said metadata being referenced.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of looking for an entry includes looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata associated with said file.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata includes looking for an entry that includes an ID or name for said file.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata includes looking for an entry that includes an owner for said file.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata includes looking for an entry that includes a date said file was created or last modified.

8. The method of claim 1:

wherein the particular request is associated with the first transaction that is nested within a second transaction;

wherein the one or more caches are organized as a hierarchy;

wherein the file server looking for the entry associated with the file in the one or more caches comprises;

looking for the entry in a first cache of the hierarchy, wherein the first cache is associated with the first transaction, wherein the first cache comprises data that has been modified by the first transaction and not yet committed to the database;

responsive to said entry not being in the first cache, then looking for said entry in a second cache of the hierarchy, wherein the second cache is associated with the second transaction, wherein the second cache comprises data that has been modified by the second transaction and not yet committed to the database; and

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of:

deallocating said first cache when said first transaction successfully terminates, without deallocating said second cache.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

storing within the first cache a first version of said entry that includes only changes made by the first transaction;

storing within a third cache in the hierarchy a second version of said entry that does not include said changes made by the first transaction;

providing data from said first version of said entry to the first transaction;

providing data from said second version of said entry to transactions other than the first transaction until the first transaction successfully terminates; and

invalidating said second version of said entry when the first transaction successfully terminates.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the third cache is the second cache.

12. The method of claim 8:

where the data in the second cache does not reflect changes made by the first transaction; and

wherein the method further comprises, in response to successful termination of the first transaction, replacing one or more entries in the second cache with one or more entries from the first cache, wherein the one or more entries from the first cache were modified by the first transaction.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more entries from the first cache, that were modified by the first transaction, replace the one or more entries in the second cache without the one or more entries from the first cache being committed to the database.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing within a first session cache of said one or more caches a first version of said entry, wherein said first session cache is used exclusively by a transaction;

storing within a shared cache of said one or more caches a second version of said entry that does not include any changes made by said transaction;

providing data from said first version of said entry to said transaction;

providing data from said second version of said entry to transactions other than said transaction until said transaction successfully terminates;

concurrently with providing data from said second version of said entry, making one or more changes to the first version in the session cache without invalidating the second version of said entry in the shared cache; and

invalidating said second version of said entry in response to detecting that said transaction successfully terminated.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said shared cache is a committed cache that only contains entries for data that has been committed to the database.

16. The method for claim 14 wherein said step of invalidating is performed when said transaction commits to the database.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein said changes made by said transaction associated with said first session cache are not committed to the database until said transaction successfully terminates.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein said session cache only contains entries for data that is not committed to the database.

19. The method of claim 1:

wherein the one or more caches include a plurality of first session caches, wherein each cache of said plurality of first session caches is associated with a corresponding transaction of a plurality of transactions, and wherein all entries in each first session cache contain data that reflects changes made by said corresponding transaction;

wherein each session cache of the plurality of first session caches is used exclusively by the transaction in said plurality of transactions that is associated with said session cache;

wherein the one or more caches further include a shared cache maintained concurrently with said plurality of first session caches, wherein no entries in said shared cache contain data that reflects changes made by any of said plurality of transactions;

the method further comprising;

during a particular transaction of said plurality of transactions, changing one or more entries in the plurality of first session caches without changing or invalidating corresponding entries in the shared cache; and

in response to successful termination of the particular transaction of said plurality of transactions, replacing the corresponding entries in said shared cache with one or more changed entries from the first session cache.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of placing, in the first session cache associated with the particular transaction, an entry that contains metadata about a file when the file is modified by said particular transaction.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of placing said entry in the first session cache associated with the particular transaction, when said particular file metadata is modified by said particular transaction.

22. The method of claim 1:

wherein the one or more caches include a first session cache and a second session cache that store entries comprising said particular file metadata;

wherein said first session cache stores a first set of one or more entries that reflect modifications to the particular file metadata made during a first session and do not reflect modifications to the particular file metadata made during a second session;

wherein said first session cache is used exclusively by said first session;

wherein said second session cache stores a second set of one or more entries that reflect said modifications to the particular file metadata made during said second session and do not reflect said modifications to the particular file metadata made during said first session;

wherein said second session cache is used exclusively by said second session;

the method further comprising;

providing operations executed during said first session with modified particular file metadata as stored in said first set of one or more entries; and

providing operations executed during said second session with modified particular file metadata as stored in said second set of one or more entries.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the file server maintaining a first cache of the one or more caches and a second cache of the one or more caches, wherein each of the first cache and the second cache store a subset of said file metadata;

wherein said first cache stores a first set of file metadata that reflects modifications made during a first session and does not reflect modifications made during a second session;

wherein said second cache stores a second set of file metadata that reflects said modifications made during said second session and does not reflect said modifications made during said first session;

providing requests received in said first session with data from said first set of file metadata;

providing requests received in said second session with data from said second set of file metadata

receiving a first request, associated with said first session, for an operation related to a file stored in the database system;

in response to said first request, looking in said first cache for particular metadata associated with said file; and

responsive to the first cache not having said particular metadata associated with said file, then looking in a third cache of the one or more caches for said particular metadata associated with said file, wherein said third cache only contains file metadata that has been committed to the database.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of sending a database command for retrieving said particular metadata to said database server responsive to said particular metadata not being in said third cache.

25. The method of claim 1:

wherein the one or more caches include a plurality of session caches and one or more shared caches;

wherein the particular request is associated with a session;

wherein looking for an entry associated with said particular file in said one or more caches comprises;

looking for an entry associated with said file in a session cache, wherein said session cache is used exclusively by said session;

if said entry is not in said session cache, then looking for said entry in one or more shared caches whose entries are accessible to multiple sessions.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein said session cache contains only entries for files whose modifications are made within said session.

27. The method of claim 25 further comprising, the step of maintaining, within said one or more shared caches, entries only for file metadata that has been committed to said database.

28. The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of, when said particular file metadata is modified in response to the particular file operation performed during said session, placing an entry for said modified particular file metadata in said session cache without placing an entry for said modified particular file metadata in said one or more shared caches.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein said particular file operation modifies said file.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein:

said session is associated with a transaction;

the method further comprises the step of;

when said transaction successfully terminates, invalidating entries, in said one or more shared caches, that are for the same information as entries in said session cache.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of:

deallocating said session cache when said transaction successfully terminates.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the particular request is a first request, the operation is a first operation, the particular file operation is a first particular file operation, the entry is a first entry, the session cache is a first session cache, the one or more shared caches are one or more first shared caches, the file server is a first file server, and the file is a first file, the method further comprising:

receiving a second request associated with a second session to perform a second operation, wherein the operation requires performance of a second particular file operation with respect to a second file that is stored in the database;

wherein performance of the second particular file operation requires obtaining second file metadata for the second file that is stored in the database;

looking for a second entry associated with said second file in a second session cache that is associated with said second session, the second entry comprising said second file metadata;

responsive to said entry not being in said second session cache, looking for said second entry in one or more second shared caches whose entries are accessible to multiple sessions; and

responsive to said second entry not being in said one or more second shared caches, sending one or more database commands to the database server to retrieve from said database said second file metadata about said second file; and

wherein the second session cache and the one or more second shared caches reside in a second file server that is separate from the first file server and the database server.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the database server executes at a different computing device than the file server.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the file metadata comprises a plurality of different types of metadata, wherein the file server utilizes at least one of the one or more caches exclusively to cache only file metadata that belongs to a subset of the plurality of different types of metadata, the subset including fewer types of metadata than the plurality of different types of metadata.

35. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the file server determining to perform the particular file operation as part of a database transaction;

the file server sending a command to the database server to initiate the database transaction; and

the file server establishing a particular cache of the one or more caches for caching file metadata for the database transaction.

36. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying instructions, which when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

a file server providing access to at least;

(a) a set of files logically stored in a database that is managed by a database server; and

(b) file metadata, corresponding to the set of files, also stored in the same database;

wherein the file server provides said access, in part, by receiving requests for files from a plurality of entities, retrieving the files from the database via the database server, and returning the files to the plurality of entities in response to the requests;

wherein the file server is separate from the database server;

the file server maintaining, at a location that is remote relative to both the database server and the database, at least one or more caches;

wherein the file server utilizes the one or more caches to cache said file metadata, but not said set of files;

receiving, at the file server, a particular request from a particular entity to perform an operation, wherein the operation requires performance of a particular file operation with respect to a file that is stored in the database;

wherein performance of the particular file operation requires obtaining particular file metadata for the file that is stored in the database;

in response to the particular request, prior to issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining said particular file metadata for the particular file operation, the file server looking for an entry, associated with said file in said one or more caches, that is caching said particular file metadata;

responsive to said entry being in the one or more caches, the file server performing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as cached in said entry, without issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining the particular file metadata for the particular file operation;

responsive to said entry not being in said one or more caches, the file server;

issuing one or more database commands to the database server that cause the database server to retrieve from said database said particular file metadata; and

performing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as retrieved from the database by the database server.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 further comprising instructions for performing the step of placing said entry in at least one of the one or more caches when said particular file metadata is modified.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein:

the particular request is generated in response to said particular file being referenced;

the entry is not in said one or more caches at the time of the particular request; and

the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of placing the entry in said one or more caches in response to said file being referenced.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein:

the particular request is generated in response to the particular file metadata being referenced;

the entry is not in said one or more caches at the time of the particular request; and

the instruction, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of placing the entry in said one or more caches in response to said metadata being referenced.

40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36 wherein the step of looking for an entry includes looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata associated with said file.

41. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 wherein the step of looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata includes looking for an entry that includes an ID or name for said file.

42. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 wherein the step of looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata includes looking for an entry that includes an owner for said file.

43. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 40 wherein the step of looking for an entry that contains attribute metadata includes looking for an entry that includes a date said file was created or last modified.

44. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36:

wherein the particular request is associated with a first transaction that is nested within a second transaction;

wherein the one or more caches are organized as a hierarchy;

wherein the file server looking for the entry associated with the file in the one or more caches comprises;

looking for the entry in a first cache of the hierarchy, wherein the first cache is associated with the first transaction, wherein the first cache comprises data that has been modified by the first transaction and not yet committed to the database;

responsive to said entry not being in the first cache, then looking for said entry in a second cache of the hierarchy, wherein the second cache is associated with the second transaction, wherein the second cache comprises data that has been modified by the second transaction and not yet committed to the database.

45. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 44 further comprising instructions for performing the step of:

deallocating said first cache when said first transaction successfully terminates, without deallocating said second cache.

46. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 44, further storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

storing within the first cache a first version of said entry that includes only changes made by the first transaction;

storing within a third cache in the hierarchy a second version of said entry that does not include said changes made by the first transaction;

providing data from said first version of said entry to the first transaction;

providing data from said second version of said entry to transactions other than the first transaction until the first transaction successfully terminates; and

invalidating said second version of said entry when the first transaction successfully terminates.

47. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 44:

wherein the data in the second cache does not reflect changes made by the first transaction; and

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause performance of, in response to successful termination of the first transaction, replacing one or more entries in the second cache with one or more entries from the first cache, wherein the one or more entries from the first cache were modified by the first transaction.

48. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause:

storing within a first session cache of said one or more caches a first version of said entry, wherein said first session cache is used exclusively by a transaction;

storing within a shared cache of said one or more caches a second version of said entry that does not include any changes made by said transaction;

providing data from said first version of said entry to said transaction;

providing data from said second version of said entry to transactions other than said transaction until said transaction successfully terminates;

concurrently with providing data from said second version of said entry, making one or more changes to the first version in the session cache without invalidating the second version of said entry in the shared cache; and

invalidating said second version of said entry in response to detecting that said transaction successfully terminated.

49. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 48 wherein said shared cache is a committed cache that only contains entries for data that has been committed to the database.

50. The computer-readable storage medium for claim 48 wherein said step of invalidating is performed when said transaction commits to the database.

51. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 48 wherein said changes made by said transaction associated with said first session cache are not committed to the database until said transaction successfully terminates.

52. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 48 wherein said session cache only contains entries for data that is not committed to the database.

53. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36:

wherein the one or more caches include a plurality of first session caches, wherein each cache of said plurality of first session caches is associated with a corresponding transaction of a plurality of transactions, and wherein all entries in each first session cache contain data that reflects changes made by said corresponding transaction;

wherein each session cache of the plurality of first session caches is used exclusively by the transaction in said plurality of transactions that is associated with said session cache;

wherein the one or more caches further include a shared cache maintained concurrently with said plurality of first session caches, wherein no entries in said shared cache contain data that reflects changes made by any of said plurality of transactions;

wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more computing devices, further cause performance of;

during a particular transaction of said plurality of transactions, changing one or more entries in the plurality of first session caches without changing or invalidating corresponding entries in the shared cache; and

in response to successful termination of the particular transaction of said plurality of transactions, replacing the corresponding entries in said shared cache with one or more changed entries from the first session cache.

54. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 53 wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of placing, in the first session cache associated with the particular transaction, an entry that contains metadata about a file when the file is modified by said particular transaction.

55. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 53 wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of placing said entry in the first session cache associated with the particular transaction, when said particular file metadata is modified by said particular transaction.

56. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36:

wherein the one or more caches include a first session cache and a second session cache that store entries comprising said particular file metadata;

wherein said first session cache stores a first set of one or more entries that reflect modifications to the particular file metadata made during a first session and do not reflect modifications to the particular file metadata made during a second session;

wherein said first session cache is used exclusively by said first session;

wherein said second session cache stores a second set of one or more entries that reflect said modifications to the particular file metadata made during said second session and do not reflect said modifications to the particular file metadata made during said first session;

wherein said second session cache is used exclusively by said second session;

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of;

providing operations executed during said first session with modified particular file metadata as stored in said first set of one or more entries; and

providing operations executed during said second session with modified particular file metadata as stored in said second set of one or more entries.

57. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

the file server maintaining a first cache of the one or more caches and a second cache of the one or more caches, wherein each of the first cache and the second cache store a subset of said file metadata;

wherein said first cache stores a first set of file metadata that reflects modifications made during a first session and does not reflect modifications made during a second session;

wherein said second cache stores a second set of file metadata that reflects said modifications made during said second session and does not reflect said modifications made during said first session;

providing requests received in said first session with data from said first set of file metadata;

providing requests received in said second session with data from said second set of file metadata

receiving a first request, associated with said first session, for an operation related to a file stored in the database system;

in response to said first request, looking in said first cache for particular metadata associated with said file; and

responsive to the first cache not having said particular metadata associated with said file, then looking in a third cache of the one or more caches for said particular metadata associated with said file, wherein said third cache only contains file metadata that has been committed to the database.

58. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 57 wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computing devices, further cause performance of sending a database command for retrieving said particular metadata to said database server responsive to said particular metadata not being in said third cache.

59. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36:

wherein the one or more caches include a plurality of session caches and one or more shared caches;

wherein the particular request is associated with a session;

wherein looking for an entry associated with said particular file in said one or more caches comprises;

looking for an entry associated with said file in a session cache, wherein said session cache is used exclusively by said session;

if said entry is not in said session cache, then looking for said entry in one or more shared caches whose entries are accessible to multiple sessions.

60. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59 wherein said session cache contain only entries for files whose modifications are made by said session.

61. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59 wherein said entries that are accessible to said multiple sessions only cache data that has been committed to the database.

62. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59 further comprising instructions for performing the step of placing said entry in said session cache when the particular file metadata is modified by said session.

63. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59 wherein:

said session is associated with a transaction;

the computer-readable medium further comprises instructions for performing the step of;

when said transaction successfully terminates, invalidating entries, in said one or more shared caches, that are for the same information as entries in said session cache.

64. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 63 further comprising instructions for performing the step of:

deallocating said session cache when said transaction successfully terminates.

65. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 59 wherein the particular request is a first request, the operation is a first operation, the particular file operation is a first particular file operation, the entry is a first entry, the session cache is a first session cache, the one or more shared caches are one or more first shared caches, the file server is a first file server, and the file is a first file, the method further comprising:

receiving a second request associated with a second session to perform a second operation, wherein the operation requires performance of a second particular file operation with respect to a second file that is stored in the database;

wherein performance of the second particular file operation requires obtaining second file metadata for the second file that is stored in the database;

looking for a second entry associated with said second file in a second session cache that is associated with said second session, the second entry comprising said second file metadata;

responsive to said second entry not being in said second session cache, looking for said second entry in one or more second shared caches whose entries are accessible to multiple sessions; and

responsive to said second entry not being in said one or more second shared caches, sending one or more database commands to the database server to retrieve from said database said second file metadata about said second file; and

wherein the second session cache and the one or more second shared caches resides in a second file server that is separate from the first file server and the database server.

66. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, wherein the database server executes at a different computing device than the file server.

67. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, further storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

the file server determining to perform the particular file operation as part of a database transaction;

the file server sending a command to the database server to initiate the database transaction; and

the file server establishing a particular cache of the one or more caches for caching file metadata for the database transaction.

68. A method comprising:

a file server providing access to at least;

(a) a set of files logically stored in a database that is managed by a database server; and

(b) file metadata, corresponding to the set of files, also stored in the same database;

wherein the file server is separate from the database server;

receiving, at the file server, a request to perform an operation, wherein the operation requires performance of a particular file operation with respect to a file that is stored in the database;

the file server determining to respond to the request to perform the file operation by executing at least a parent database transaction and a nested database transaction that is nested within the parent database transaction;

wherein performance of the particular file operation requires obtaining particular file metadata for the file that is stored in the database;

the file server sending a command to the database server to initiate the parent database transaction;

the file server establishing, at a location that is remote relative to both the database server and the database, a parent transaction cache both to cache file metadata retrieved from the database by the nested database transaction, but not files;

while still executing the parent transaction, the file server sending a command to the database server to initiate the nested database transaction;

the file server establishing, at a location that is remote relative to both the database server and the database, a nested transaction cache both to cache file metadata retrieved from the database by the nested database transaction, but not files;

in response to the request, while the nested database transaction is being performed, prior to issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining said particular file metadata for the particular file operation, the file server looking for an entry associated with said file in the nested transaction cache, said entry caching said particular file metadata;

responsive to said entry not being in the nested transaction cache, the file server looking for the entry in the parent transaction cache;

responsive to said entry not being in the nested transaction cache and the parent transaction cache, the file server looking for the entry in a shared cache of file metadata, the shared cache being shared to cache file metadata retrieved by multiple transactions;

responsive to said entry being in at least one of the nested transaction cache, the parent transaction cache, or the shared transaction cache, the file server performing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as cached in said entry, without issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining the particular file metadata for the particular file operation;

responsive to said entry not being in at least one of the nested transaction cache, parent transaction cache, and shared transaction cache, the file server;

issuing one or more database commands to the database server that cause the database server to retrieve from said database said particular file metadata;

executing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as retrieved from the database by the database server; and

storing the particular file metadata in the nested transaction cache;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

69. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying instructions, which when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

a file server providing access to at least;

(a) a set of files logically stored in a database that is managed by a database server; and

(b) file metadata, corresponding to the set of files, also stored in the same database;

wherein the file server is separate from the database server;

receiving, at the file server, a request to perform an operation, wherein the operation requires performance of a particular file operation with respect to a file that is stored in the database;

the file server determining to respond to the request to perform the file operation by executing at least a parent database transaction and a nested database transaction that is nested within the parent database transaction;

wherein performance of the particular file operation requires obtaining particular file metadata for the file that is stored in the database;

the file server sending a command to the database server to initiate the parent database transaction;

the file server establishing, at a location that is remote relative to both the database server and the database, a parent transaction cache both to cache file metadata retrieved from the database by the nested database transaction, but not files;

while still executing the parent transaction, the file server sending a command to the database server to initiate the nested database transaction;

the file server establishing, at a location that is remote relative to both the database server and the database, a nested transaction cache both to cache file metadata retrieved from the database by the nested database transaction, but not files;

in response to the request, while the nested database transaction is being performed, prior to issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining said particular file metadata for the particular file operation, the file server looking for an entry associated with said file in the nested transaction cache, said entry caching said particular file metadata;

responsive to said entry not being in the nested transaction cache, the file server looking for the entry in the parent transaction cache;

responsive to said entry not being in the nested transaction cache and the parent transaction cache, the file server looking for the entry in a shared cache of file metadata, the shared cache being shared to cache file metadata retrieved by multiple transactions;

responsive to said entry being in at least one of the nested transaction cache, the parent transaction cache, or the shared transaction cache, the file server performing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as cached in said entry, without issuing any database command to the database server for obtaining the particular file metadata for the particular file operation;

responsive to said entry not being in at least one of the nested transaction cache, parent transaction cache, and shared transaction cache, the file server;

issuing one or more database commands to the database server that cause the database server to retrieve from said database said particular file metadata;

executing the particular file operation based on the particular file metadata as retrieved from the database by the database server; and

storing the particular file metadata in the nested transaction cache.