File system node updates

• US 8,495,044 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2009
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Buban, Garret J., Cargille, Jonathan M., Tipton, William R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Leslie
• Application Number:
  US12/552,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20110055182A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,420 Days
• Field of Search: 707/704, 707/999.008, 707/999.107
• US Class Current: 707/704
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1774 Locking methods, e.g. locking methods for file systems allowing shared and concurrent access to files

Abstract

In response to a request to a file system to perform a requested update, a lock of a first node in a file system can be acquired, and an update of the first node can be performed while the lock of the first node is held. Also in response to the request, a lock of a second node can be acquired, and an update of the second node, which reflects the update of the first node, can be performed while the lock of the second node is held. The update of the first node can be independent of acquiring the lock of the second node. A file system can allow a pair of update operations to be performed in parallel where both operations include updating the same container node. Additionally, while a file system is running, new namespace types can be defined, and the file system can be extended to manage nodes within the new namespace types.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

in response to a request to a file system to perform a requested update;

acquiring a lock of a first node in the file system;

performing an update of the first node while the lock of the first node is held;

releasing the lock of the first node;

sending a notification from the first node to a second node, the notification indicating an update of the first node has been performed;

in response to the notification, acquiring a lock of the second node in the file system, performing the update of the first node being independent of acquiring the lock of the second node;

performing an update of the second node while the lock of the second node is held, the update of the second node reflecting the update of the first node;

sending a response to the request after sending the notification but without waiting for the update of the second node to be completed, the response indicating that the requested update is complete; and

releasing the lock of the second node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node is a contained node and the second node is a container node, the container node being a parent of the contained node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is sent after releasing the lock of the first node.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the first node is a contained node, the contained node having one or more attributes that are represented in one or more entries in an index of the second node, the second node being a container node that contains the contained node;

the update of the contained node is an update of at least one of the one or more attributes in the contained node; and

the update of the container node is an update of at least one of the one or more entries in the index.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the response to the request is sent after receiving a confirmation of receipt of the notification by the second node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the file system allows acquiring the lock of the second node, performing the update of the second node, and releasing the lock of the second node to be performed as background operations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the lock of the first node and the lock of the second node are both exclusive locks.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring a lock of a third node in the file system, performing the update of the first node being independent of acquiring the lock of the third node, and performing the update of the second node being independent of acquiring the lock of the third node;

performing an update of the third node to reflect the update of the first node while the lock of the third node is held, performing the update of the third node being independent of acquiring the lock of the second node; and

releasing the lock of the third node.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform acts comprising:

performing a first update operation in a file system, the first update operation including updating a container node in the file system, and the first update operation including performing acts comprising;

acquiring a lock of a contained node that is contained in the container node;

performing an update of the contained node while the lock of the contained node is held;

releasing the lock of the contained node;

notifying the container node that the contained node has been updated;

acquiring a lock of the container node;

performing an update of the container node to reflect the update of the contained node while the lock of the container node is held, performing the update of the container node being independent of acquiring the lock of the contained node; and

releasing the lock of the container node; and

performing a second update operation in the file system, the second update operation including updating the container node, the file system allowing performance of the first update operation and the second update operation in parallel.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein performing the first update operation is done in response to a first request to the file system, and performing the second operation is done in response to a second request to the file system.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein:

the contained node is a first contained node; and

the second operation includes updating the container node and updating a second contained node that is contained in the container node.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the file system allows updating the first contained node and updating the second contained node to be performed in parallel.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 11, wherein the contained node is a first contained node, the lock of the container node is a first lock of the container node, and the second update operation comprises:

acquiring a lock of a second contained node that is contained in the first container node;

performing an update of the second contained node while the lock of the second contained node is held;

releasing the lock of the second contained node;

notifying the container node that the second contained node has been updated;

acquiring a second lock of the container node, performing the update of the second contained node being independent of acquiring the second lock of the container node;

performing an update of the container node to reflect the update of the second contained node while the second lock of the container node is held, performing the update of the container node to reflect the update of the second contained node being independent of acquiring the second lock of the contained node; and

releasing the second lock of the container node.