File system hinting
First Claim
1. A method for generating and communicating file system hints, the method comprising:
- receiving an I/O request from a file system layer;
checking the I/O request for file system contextual information;
accessing the file system layer to determine attributes of the file system contextual information;
receiving the attributes of the file system contextual information from the file system layer;
analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information;
generating at least one hint based upon analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information, wherein said at least one hint indicates a relative importance of I/O request data associated with the hint and is configured to be used to direct relatively more important I/O request data to be stored in a relatively faster storage medium; and
sending the at least one hint to a lower level storage tier.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for generating and communicating file system hints. The method may include receiving an I/O request from a file system layer and checking the I/O request for file system contextual information. The method may also include accessing the file system layer to determine attributes of the file system contextual information and receiving the attributes of the file system contextual information from the file system layer. The method may further include analyzing attributes of the file system contextual information and generating a hint based upon analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information. The method may include a mechanism to provide weight-age of data passed from the application. The hint may be associated with the I/O request, and the hint may comprise hotness information to increase efficiency of data accessibility at a lower level storage tier. The method may include sending the hint to the lower level storage tier.
20 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for generating and communicating file system hints, the method comprising:
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receiving an I/O request from a file system layer; checking the I/O request for file system contextual information; accessing the file system layer to determine attributes of the file system contextual information; receiving the attributes of the file system contextual information from the file system layer; analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information; generating at least one hint based upon analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information, wherein said at least one hint indicates a relative importance of I/O request data associated with the hint and is configured to be used to direct relatively more important I/O request data to be stored in a relatively faster storage medium; and sending the at least one hint to a lower level storage tier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A device configured to attach to a system topology for generating and communicating file system hints, the device comprising:
a filter driver, the filter driver configured to communicate with a file system layer, a block layer, and lower level storage tier of the system topology, said filter driver comprising a hint engine and a communication component, said filter driver further configured at least to; receive an I/O request from the file system layer; check the I/O request for file system contextual information; access the file system layer to determine attributes of the file system contextual information; receive the attributes of the file system contextual information from the file system layer; analyze the attributes of the file system contextual information; generate at least one hint based upon analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information, wherein said at least one hint indicates a relative importance of I/O request data associated with the hint and is configured to be used to direct relatively more important I/O request data to be stored in a relatively faster storage medium; and send the at least one hint to the lower level storage tier. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying computer code for causing a computing device to perform a method for generating and communicating file system hints, the computer code causing the computing device to execute:
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receiving an I/O request from a file system layer; checking the I/O request for file system contextual information; accessing the file system layer to determine attributes of the file system contextual information; receiving the attributes of the file system contextual information from the file system layer; analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information; generating at least one hint based upon analyzing the attributes of the file system contextual information, wherein said at least one hint indicates a relative importance of I/O request data associated with the hint and is configured to be used to direct relatively more important I/O request data to be stored in a relatively faster storage medium; and sending the hint to a lower level storage tier. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification