Data communication protocol

• US 8,825,885 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2012
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kruse, David, George, Mathew, Mohamed, Ahmed, Madhavarapu, Pradeep Jnana, Subbarayan, Sundar
• Primary Examiner(s): Keehn, Richard G
• Application Number:
  US13/663,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20130097211A1
• Time in Patent Office: 672 Days
• Field of Search: 709/230
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/02 Protocol performance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Described is a data communication protocol, in which a client and server negotiate in a manner that does not require the client to retry negotiation when servers are not capable of the client-desired protocol. In one example implementation, the desired protocol is SMB 2.0 or greater. The protocol describes a create command with possibly additional context data attached for built-in extensibility, and a compound command comprising a plurality of related commands or unrelated commands. A multi-channel command requests data transfer on a separate data channel, a signed capability verification may be used to ensure that a secure connection is established, and the protocol provides the ability to transfer extended error data from the server in response to a request.

Claims

1. A method of handling file system requests, the method comprising:

receiving, at a network file server, a communication protocol compound request containing a plurality of file system commands from a client;

determining whether the communication protocol compound request contains related file system commands or unrelated file system commands to be performed on a file;

in response to determining that the communication protocol compound request contains unrelated file system commands, handling the unrelated file system commands as separate file system commands; and

in response to determining that the communication protocol compound request contains related file system commands, handling the related file system commands sequentially.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the related file system commands comprise a create/open command, and wherein handling each request sequentially comprises using a file handle from the create/open command for each subsequent related file system command.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compound request is marked as containing related fried file system commands.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the compound request is received in a single data transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the compound request is a conditional compound request, and wherein the conditional compound request includes at least one condition to be satisfied prior to the file system commands being executed.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one condition to be satisfied prior to the file system commands being executed is a size condition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the compound request is an implied compound request, and wherein the implied compound request indicates that a particular file system command is to be executed even if the particular file system command is not expressly requested.

8. A computer-readable memory having computer-executable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, performs a method for handling file system requests, the method comprising:

receiving, at a network file server, a communication protocol compound request containing a plurality of file system commands from a client;

determining whether the communication protocol compound request contains related file system commands or unrelated file system commands to be performed on a file;

in response to determining that the communication protocol compound request contains unrelated file system commands, handling the unrelated file system commands as separate file system commands; and

in response to determining that the communication protocol compound request contains related file system commands, handling the related file system commands sequentially.

9. The computer-readable memory of claim 8, wherein the related file system commands comprise a create/open command, and wherein handling each request sequentially comprises using a file handle from the create/open command for each subsequent related file system command.

10. The computer-readable memory of claim 8, wherein the compound request is marked as containing related file system commands.

11. The computer-readable memory of claim 8, wherein the compound request is received in a single data transmission.

12. The computer-readable memory of claim 8, wherein the compound request is a conditional compound request, and wherein the conditional compound request includes at least one condition to be satisfied prior to the file system commands being executed.

13. The computer-readable memory of claim 12, wherein the one condition to be satisfied prior to the file system commands being executed is a size condition.

14. The computer-readable memory of claim 8, wherein the compound request is an implied compound request, and wherein the implied compound request indicates that a particular file system command is to be executed even if the particular file system command is not expressly requested.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory for storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, performs a method for handling file system requests, the method comprising;

receiving, at a network file server, a communication protocol compound request containing a plurality of file system commands from a client;

determining whether the communication protocol compound request contains related file system commands or unrelated file system commands to be performed on a file stored in a file system;

in response to determining that the communication protocol compound request contains unrelated file system commands, handling the unrelated file system commands as separate file system commands; and

in response to determining that the communication protocol compound request contains related file system commands, handling the related file system commands sequentially.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the compound request is marked as containing related file system commands.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the compound request is received in a single data transmission.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the compound request is a conditional compound request, and wherein the conditional compound request includes at least one condition to be satisfied prior to the file system commands being executed.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the compound request is an implied compound request, and wherein the implied compound request indicates that a particular file system command is to be executed even if the particular file system command is not expressly requested.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the related file system commands comprise a create/open command, and wherein handling each request sequentially comprises using a file handle from the create/open command for each subsequent related file system command.