Organizing resources into collections to facilitate more efficient and reliable resource access

• US 8,892,626 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2012
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kakivaya, Gopala Krishna R., Hasha, Richard L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/599,742
• Publication Number:
  US 20120331122A1
• Time in Patent Office: 810 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 709/220, 709/222, 709238-244, 709/201, 709/245
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3015 Name registration, generation or assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Resources are organized into collections to facilitate more efficient and reliable resource access. Namespace managers communicate with one another to form a federation namespace infrastructure. The infrastructure efficiently routes, migrates, and processes namespace requests, such as, for example, namespace registration requests from providers requesting to manage portions of namespaces and lookup requests from consumers requesting access to managed resources. Resources are registered in and made accessible from multiple different namespaces. Resources are identified using nested queries that filter results at multiple levels of a hierarchical namespace.

Claims

1. At a first namespace manager in a namespace federation infrastructure, a computer-implemented method for migrating a namespace branch, the method comprising:

receiving a first namespace registration request from a provider to register a resource in a first namespace branch, the first namespace registration request including a namespace string that identifies the first namespace branch and a unique identifier for the provider requesting registration of the resource in the first namespace branch, the first namespace branch being one branch in a plurality of hierarchically-arranged namespace branches of a namespace tree that are managed by a plurality of namespace managers, each namespace branch corresponding to at least one resource within a hierarchical arrangement of a plurality of resources, each namespace branch being registered to a different corresponding provider of a plurality of providers;

determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied a policy action associated with a policy constraint based on a processing load of the first namespace manager and based on receiving the first namespace registration request;

identifying, based on determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied the policy processing constraint, a second namespace branch that is being managed by the first namespace manager and that can be migrated to a partner second namespace manager of the plurality of namespace managers, to reduce the processing load of the first namespace manager so that the first namespace manager can meet the policy action associated with the policy constraint;

migrating the second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager in response to the policy action, including migrating existing namespace registrations for the second namespace branch; and

subsequent to migrating the second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager, the first namespace manager performing the following;

processing the first namespace registration request, to register the resource in the first namespace branch under the first namespace manager;

recording a stub indicating that the second namespace branch has been migrated to the partner second namespace manager;

revoking one or more subscriptions for liveness notifications for tracking providers and subscribers in the migrated second namespace branch;

receiving a second namespace registration request to register a resource in the second namespace branch that was migrated; and

redirecting, based on the stub, the second registration request to the partner second namespace manager.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied the policy action associated with the policy constraint comprises determining that the amount of namespace information being processed at the first namespace manager has exceeded a configured threshold.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the configured threshold comprises a total number of registrations maintained at the namespace manager.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the second namespace branch is migrated to reduce the namespace information processed at the first namespace manager below a configured threshold.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the first namespace manager identifies a more heavily-populated or heavily-serviced namespace branch for migration.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising forwarding at least a portion of namespace registrations encountered along a spine of the migrated second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager hosting the migrated second namespace branch, such that the partner second namespace manager is configured to service the lookup requests that specify the migrated second namespace branch without the requests having to go through the first namespace manager.

7. One or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a first namespace manager, implement a method for migrating a namespace branch, the method comprising:

receiving a first namespace registration request from a provider to register a resource in a first namespace branch, the first namespace registration request including a namespace string that identifies the first namespace branch and a unique identifier for the provider requesting registration of the resource in the first namespace branch, the first namespace branch being one branch in a plurality of hierarchically-arranged namespace branches of a namespace tree that are managed by a plurality of namespace managers, each namespace branch corresponding to at least one resource within a hierarchical arrangement of a plurality of resources, each namespace branch being registered to a different corresponding provider of a plurality of providers;

determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied a policy action associated with a policy constraint based on a processing load of the first namespace manager and based on receiving the first namespace registration request;

identifying, based on determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied the policy processing constraint, a second namespace branch that is being managed by the first namespace manager and that can be migrated to a partner second namespace manager of the plurality of namespace managers, to reduce the processing load of the first namespace manager so that the first namespace manager can meet the policy action associated with the policy constraint;

migrating the second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager in response to the policy action, including migrating existing namespace registrations for the second namespace branch; and

subsequent to migrating the second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager, the first namespace manager performing the following;

processing the first namespace registration request, to register the resource in the first namespace branch under the first namespace manager;

recording a stub indicating that the second namespace branch has been migrated to the partner second namespace manager;

revoking one or more subscriptions for liveness notifications for tracking providers and subscribers in the migrated second namespace branch;

receiving a second namespace registration request to register a resource in the second namespace branch that was migrated; and

redirecting, based on the stub, the second registration request to the partner second namespace manager.

8. The one or more hardware storage devices as recited in claim 7, wherein determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied the policy action associated with the policy constraint comprises determining that the amount of namespace information being processed at the first namespace manager has exceeded a configured threshold.

9. The one or more hardware storage devices as recited in claim 7, further comprising forwarding at least a portion of namespace registrations encountered along a spine of the migrated second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager hosting the migrated second namespace branch, such that the partner second namespace manager is configured to service the lookup requests that specify the migrated second namespace branch without the requests having to go through the first namespace manager.

10. The one or more hardware storage devices as recited in claim 7, wherein the second namespace branch is migrated to reduce the namespace information processed at the first namespace manager below a configured threshold.

11. The one or more hardware storage devices as recited in claim 7, wherein the first namespace manager identifies a more heavily-populated or heavily-serviced namespace branch for migration.

18. The one or more hardware storage devices as recited in claim 8, wherein the configured threshold comprises a total number of registrations maintained at the namespace manager.

12. A computer system, comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed the one or more processors of a first namespace manager, implement a method for migrating a namespace branch, the method comprising;

receiving a first namespace registration request from a provider to register a resource in a first namespace branch, the first namespace registration request including a namespace string that identifies the first namespace branch and a unique identifier for the provider requesting registration of the resource in the first namespace branch, the first namespace branch being one branch in a plurality of hierarchically-arranged namespace branches of a namespace tree that are managed by a plurality of namespace managers, each namespace branch corresponding to at least one resource within a hierarchical arrangement of a plurality of resources, each namespace branch being registered to a different corresponding provider of a plurality of providers;

determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied a policy action associated with a policy constraint based on a processing load of the first namespace manager and based on receiving the first namespace registration request;

identifying, based on determining that the namespace manager has satisfied the policy processing constraint, a second namespace branch that is being managed by the first namespace manager and that can be migrated to a partner second namespace manager of the plurality of namespace managers to, reduce the processing load of the first namespace manager so that the first namespace manager can meet the policy action associated with the policy constraint;

migrating the second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager in response to the policy action, including migrating existing namespace registrations for the second namespace branch; and

subsequent to migrating the second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager, the first namespace manager performing the following;

processing the first namespace registration request, to register the resource in the first namespace branch under the first namespace manager;

recording a stub indicating that the second namespace branch has been migrated to the partner namespace manager;

revoking one or more subscriptions for liveness notifications for tracking providers and subscribers in the migrated second namespace branch;

receiving a second namespace registration request to register a resource in the second namespace branch that was migrated; and

redirecting, based on the stub, the second registration request to the partner second namespace manager.

13. The computer system as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

forwarding at least a portion of namespace registrations encountered along a spine of the migrated second namespace branch to the partner second namespace manager hosting the migrated second namespace branch, such that the partner second namespace manager is configured to service the lookup requests that specify the migrated second namespace branch without the requests having to go through the first namespace manager.

14. The computer system as recited in claim 12, wherein determining that the first namespace manager has satisfied the policy action associated with the policy constraint comprises determining that the amount of namespace information being processed at the first namespace manager has exceeded a configured threshold.

15. The computer system as recited in claim 14, wherein the configured threshold comprises a total number of registrations maintained at the namespace manager.

16. The computer system as recited in claim 12, wherein the second namespace branch is migrated to reduce the namespace information processed at the first namespace manager below a configured threshold.

17. The computer system as recited in claim 12, wherein the first namespace manager identifies a more heavily-populated or heavily-serviced namespace branch for migration.