Relocating item in distributed storage system

• US 8,560,691 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2007
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jager, Marcus J., MacCormick, John P., McCulloch, Douglas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): BAROT, BHARAT
• Application Number:
  US11/820,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20080320005A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,310 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709212-213, 709217-219, 709223-226
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems

Abstract

Techniques are provided for moving an item from one item server to another item server in a distributed storage system, using a location service, APIs, and item states. There are three parties that transact with each other: a source item server, a destination item server, and a location service. Each item stored at the source has a move status, e.g., “stationary”, “source attempting transfer”, “destination accepting transfer”, or “destination attempting transfer”. Similarly, each item stored at the destination also has a move status, e.g., “stationary”, “source attempting transfer”, “destination accepting transfer”, or “destination attempting transfer”. The location service desirably has an entry for every item stored by the storage system. An item'"'"'s entry may comprise the item'"'"'s current location (e.g., an identifier of an item server) together with a state, such as “stable” or “attempting transfer”.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending a move request from a source server to a destination server, the move request requesting to move an item having item data from the source server to the destination server;

receiving a success response from the destination server in response to the move request, the success response indicating that the destination server has created an entry for the item in an ownership list associated with the destination server;

transferring the item data from the source server to the destination server, wherein transferring the item data from the source server to the destination server comprises;

transferring preliminary data associated with the item from the source server to the destination server, the preliminary data instructing the destination server to create a new item for the item data to be transferred,

locking access to the item at the source server so that clients cannot update or read the item, and

transferring final data associated with the item from the source server to the destination server;

changing a move status of the item at the source server from stationary to source attempting transfer;

sending a change state request to a location service requesting the location service to change a state of the item from stable to attempting transfer;

transferring control to the destination server, wherein the control is transferred to the destination server in an instance when another change state request sent by the destination server to the location service is successful in changing the state of the item from attempting transfer to stable; and

deleting the item at the source server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a read state request to the location service prior to sending the move request to the destination server; and

in an instance when the location service responds to the read state request by indicating that the state of the item is other than stable, then aborting the method.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

sending the change state request to the location service prior to transferring control to the destination server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein deleting the item at the source server comprises deleting an item entry in an ownership list associated with the source server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the locking is performed with a soft lock that is not recorded in stable storage of the source server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the item data comprises confirming, by the source server, that the item data is identical at the source server and the destination server.

7. At least one computer-readable memory device or storage device storing computer readable instructions which, when executed by at least one processing unit, cause the at least one processing unit to perform acts comprising:

sending a move request from a source server to a destination server, the move request requesting to move an item having item data from the source server to the destination server;

receiving a success response from the destination server in response to the move request, the success response indicating that the destination server has created an entry for the item in an ownership list associated with the destination server;

transferring the item data from the source server to the destination server, wherein transferring the item data from the source server to the destination server comprises;

transferring preliminary data associated with the item from the source server to the destination server,

locking access to the item at the source server so that clients cannot update or read the item, and

transferring final data associated with the item from the source server to the destination server;

changing a move status of the item at the source server from a first status indicating the item is stationary to a second status indicating the source server is attempting to transfer the item;

sending a change state request to a location service requesting the location service to change a state of the item from a first state indicating the item is stable to a second state indicating there is an attempted transfer of the item;

receiving another success response from the location service, the another success response indicating that the location service changed the state of the item to the second state;

sending a transfer control request to the destination server responsive to receiving the another success response from the location service; and

deleting the item at the source server.

8. The at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 7, the acts further comprising:

receiving, from the destination server, a further success response to the transfer control request,

wherein the deleting is performed responsive to receiving the further success response.

9. The at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 7, wherein the locking is performed after transferring the preliminary data.

10. The at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 9, wherein the locking is performed before transferring the final data.

11. The at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 7, the acts further comprising:

receiving ongoing updates from the clients and updating the item data based on the ongoing updates,

wherein the ongoing updates are provided to the destination server with the preliminary data.

12. The at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 7, the acts further comprising:

sending another transfer control request to the destination server for another data item; and

upon failure of the another transfer control request, sending another change state request to the location service to change the state of the another data item to the first state.

13. The at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 12, the acts further comprising:

deleting the another data item from the source server in an instance when the another change state request fails because the location service has associated the another data item with the destination server.

14. A computing device comprising:

one or more processing units; and

at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the one or more processing units to;

send a move request from the computing device to another computing device, the move request requesting to move an item having item data from the computing device to the another computing device;

receive a success response from the another computing device in response to the move request, the success response indicating that the another computing device has received the move request;

transfer the item data from the computing device to the another computing device, wherein, to transfer the item data from the computing device to the another computing device, the computer readable instructions further cause the one or more processing units to;

transfer preliminary data associated with the item from the computing device to the another computing device,

lock access to the item at the computing device, and

transfer final data associated with the item from the computing device to the another computing device;

change a move status of the item at the computing device from a first status indicating the item is stationary to a second status indicating the computing device is attempting to transfer the item;

send a change state request to a location service requesting the location service to change a state of the item from a first state indicating the item is stable to a second state indicating there is an attempted transfer of the item;

receive another success response from the location service, the another success response indicating that the location service changed the state of the item to the second state;

send a transfer control request to the another computing device responsive to receiving the another success response from the location service; and

delete the item at the computing device.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the one or more processing units to:

send a read state request to the location service prior to sending the move request to the another computing device; and

in an instance when the location service responds to the read state request by indicating that the state of the item is not the first state, abort transfer of the item.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the one or more processing units to:

receive, from the another computing device, a further success response to the transfer control request,

wherein the item is deleted responsive to receipt of the further success response.

17. The computing device of claim 15, the at least one computer-readable memory device or storage device comprising one or more soft storage devices and one or more stable storage devices, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the one or more processing units to:

lock access to the item via a lock stored in the one or more soft storage devices without also storing the lock in the one or more stable storage devices.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the lock prevents other computing devices from updating the item.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the item comprises a file.