Establishment, optimization, and routing of remote transitive name space access

• US 8,805,880 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2012
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Van Hensbergen, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Richardson, James E
• Application Number:
  US13/563,890
• Publication Number:
  US 20140040330A1
• Time in Patent Office: 741 Days
• Field of Search: 707/782, 707/831, 707/827
• US Class Current: 707/782
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A mechanism is provided for establishment, optimization, and routing of remote transitive name space access. The illustrative mechanism adds a new protocol primitive to distributed file systems, which establishes a new multiplexed client connection between the client, the transitive server, and the destination server(s). The protocol allows establishment of remote mounts on a transitive file server. The protocol allows the client to request a “recipe” for a direct connection to the destination file server without intermediate nodes. The protocol allows the intermediate server to be established as a multiplexer that forwards requests/responses to/from destination servers without unmarshalling/remarshalling.

Claims

1. A method, in a server data processing system, for remote transitive name space access, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a protocol packet for accessing a destination file system from a client, determining whether the destination file system is a local file system or a remote file system;

responsive to determining the destination file system is a local file system, processing the protocol packet at the server data processing system;

responsive to determining the destination file system is a remote file system, identifying a flag in the protocol packet;

responsive to the flag comprising a global mount flag, establishing a transitive mount of the remote file system within a global namespace of the server data processing system;

responsive to the flag comprising a session mount flag, establishing a transitive mount of the remote file system within a private namespace of the server data processing system for the client, wherein the private namespace is invisible to other clients of the server data processing system; and

responsive to the flag comprising a multiplex flag, forwarding the protocol packet to the destination file system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the protocol packet to the destination file system comprises forwarding the protocol packet to the destination file system without unmarshalling and remarshalling.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to receiving a request from a client to mount the remote file system, returning to the client instructions for connecting to a destination file server for the remote file system such that the client establishes a direction connection to the destination file server using the instructions without involvement of the server data processing system.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving the instructions for connecting to the destination file server from the destination file server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the flag comprising the multiplex flag, tracking tags and file system identifiers destined for the remote file system and multiplexing subsequent protocol requests to the remote the system without intermediate processing on the server data processing system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the flag comprising an advise flag, returning a list of direct connection instructions to the client without establishing a transitive mount of the remote file system.

7. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a server data processing system, causes the server data processing system to:

responsive to receiving a protocol packet for accessing a destination file system from a client, determine whether the destination file system is a local file system or a remote file system;

responsive to determining the destination file system is a local file system, process the protocol packet at the server data processing system;

responsive to determining the destination file system is a remote file system, identify a flag in the protocol packet;

responsive to the flag comprising a global mount flag, establish a transitive mount of the remote file system within a global namespace of the server data processing system;

responsive to the flag comprising a session mount flag, establish a transitive mount of the remote file system within a private namespace of the server data processing system for the client, wherein the private namespace is invisible to other clients of the server data processing system; and

responsive to the flag comprising a multiplex flag, forward the protocol packet to the destination file system.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein forwarding the protocol packet to the destination file system comprises forwarding the protocol packet to destination file system without unmarshalling and remarshalling.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable program further causes the server data processing system to:

responsive to receiving a request from a client to mount the remote file system, return to the client instructions for connecting to a destination file server for the remote file system such that the client establishes a direction connection to the destination file server using the instructions without involvement of the server data processing system.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer readable program further causes the server data processing system to:

receive the instructions for connecting to the destination file server from the destination file saver.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable program is stored in a computer readable storage medium in a data processing system and wherein the computer readable program was downloaded over a network from a remote data processing system.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable program is stored in a computer readable storage medium in a server data processing system and wherein the computer readable program is downloaded over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer readable storage medium with the remote system.

13. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable program further causes the server data processing system to:

responsive to the flag comprising the multiplex flag, track tags and file system identifiers destined for the remote file system and multiplex subsequent protocol requests to the remote file system without intermediate processing on the server data processing system.

14. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable program further causes the server data processing system to:

responsive to the flag comprising an advise flag, return a list of direct connection instructions to the client without establishing a transitive mount of the remote file system.

15. A server data processing system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

responsive to receiving a protocol packet for accessing a destination file system from a client, determine whether the destination file system is a local file system or a remote file system;

responsive to determining the destination file system is a local file system, process the protocol packet at the server data processing system;

responsive to determining the destination file system is a remote the system, identify a flag in the protocol packet;

responsive to the flag comprising a global mount flag, establish a transitive mount of the remote file system within a global namespace of the server data processing system;

responsive to the flag comprising a session mount flag, establish a transitive mount of the remote file system within a private namespace of the server data processing system for the client, wherein the private namespace is invisible to other clients of the server data processing system; and

responsive to the flag comprising a multiplex flag, forward the protocol packet to the destination file system.

16. The server data processing system of claim 15, wherein forwarding the protocol packet to the destination file system comprises forwarding the protocol packet to the destination file system without unmarshalling and remarshalling.

17. The server data processing system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

responsive to receiving a request from a client to mount the remote file system, return to the client instructions for connecting to a destination file server for the remote file system such that the client establishes a direction connection to the destination file server using the instructions without involvement of the server data processing system.

18. The server data processing system of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive the instructions for connecting to the destination file server from the destination file server.

19. The server data processing system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

responsive to the flag comprising the multiplex flag, track tags and file system identifiers destined for the remote file system and multiplex subsequent protocol requests to the remote file system without intermediate processing on the server data processing system.

20. The server data processing system of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

responsive to the flag comprising an advise flag, return a list of direct connection instructions to the client without establishing a transitive mount of the remote file system.