Primary stub file retention and secondary retention coordination in a hierarchical storage system
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of operating a primary file server and a secondary file server in a data network, said method comprising:
- the primary file server replacing a specified file in primary storage of the primary file server with a corresponding stub file in the primary storage when data of the specified file are migrated from the primary storage to secondary storage of the secondary file server, the corresponding stub file retaining attributes of the specified file including an indication of a location of the file data in the secondary storage;
wherein the method further includes the secondary file server setting a retention period for the file data in the secondary storage, and the secondary file server retaining the file data in the secondary storage for the retention period; and
wherein the primary file server sets at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to indicate that the corresponding stub file is to be retained for the retention period, and the primary file server accesses said at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to reject a request from a client or user to change the specified file prior to expiration of the retention period.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A protected file is retained in secondary storage for a retention period, and a corresponding stub file is retained in primary storage for the retention period. The stub file retains attributes of the file indicating a location of the file data in the secondary storage and indicting that the stub file is to be retained for the retention period. A system administrator may instruct a primary file server that a secondary file server supports retention based protection and it is desired to protect stub files corresponding to protected files that are migrated to the secondary file server. The primary file server may request the secondary file server to return a protection status of the file after migration. This enables automatic policy-based migration to both file level retention (FLR) and non-FLR retention protected secondary storage from diverse applications accessing FLR or non-FLR files in the primary storage.
31 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of operating a primary file server and a secondary file server in a data network, said method comprising:
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the primary file server replacing a specified file in primary storage of the primary file server with a corresponding stub file in the primary storage when data of the specified file are migrated from the primary storage to secondary storage of the secondary file server, the corresponding stub file retaining attributes of the specified file including an indication of a location of the file data in the secondary storage; wherein the method further includes the secondary file server setting a retention period for the file data in the secondary storage, and the secondary file server retaining the file data in the secondary storage for the retention period; and wherein the primary file server sets at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to indicate that the corresponding stub file is to be retained for the retention period, and the primary file server accesses said at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to reject a request from a client or user to change the specified file prior to expiration of the retention period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A primary file server for use in a data network coupling the primary file server to at least one secondary file server, the primary file server comprising primary storage and being programmed for replacing a specified file in the primary storage with a corresponding stub file in the primary storage when data of the specified file are migrated from the primary storage to secondary storage of the secondary file server, the corresponding stub file storing attributes of the specified file including an indication of a location of the file data in the secondary storage;
wherein the primary file server is programmed for setting at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to indicate that the corresponding stub file is to be retained for a retention period when the secondary file server supports retention protection of the migrated file data and the secondary file server has been set to retain the migrated file data for the retention period, and the primary file server is programmed for accessing said at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to reject a request from a client or user to change the specified file prior to expiration of the retention period. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system comprising a primary file server, a file level retention (FLR) secondary file server, a non-FLR write once read many (WORM) secondary file server, and a data network interconnecting the primary file server to the FLR secondary file server and the WORM secondary file server for migration of file data from the primary file server to the FLR secondary file server and from the primary file server to the WORM secondary file server, wherein the primary file server is programmed for migrating data of FLR files and data of non-FLR files to the FLR secondary file server, and for migrating data of FLR files and data of non-FLR files to the WORM secondary file server,
wherein the primary file server is programmed for replacing a specified file in the primary file server with a corresponding stub file in the primary file server when data of the specified file have been migrated from the primary file server to a selected one of the FLR secondary file server and the WORM secondary file server, the corresponding stub file containing attributes of the specified file including an indication of a location of the data of the specified file in the selected one of the FLR secondary file server and the WORM secondary file server; - and
wherein the primary file server is programmed for setting at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to indicate that the corresponding stub file is to be retained for a retention period of the data of the specified file on the selected one of the FLR secondary file server and the WORM secondary file server, and the primary file server is programmed for accessing said at least one attribute of the corresponding stub file to reject a request from a client or user to change the specified file prior to expiration of the retention period. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification