File management method and hierarchy management file system

• US 8,949,557 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2013
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kamei, Hitoshi, Nakano, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THAN VINH
• Application Number:
  US14/105,723
• Publication Number:
  US 20140101385A1
• Time in Patent Office: 417 Days
• Field of Search: 711/161, 711/162
• US Class Current: 711/161
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

There is provided a file management system and method of creating a hierarchy management file capable of preventing an access performance from dropping when a user accesses to a file. According to the system and method, a server creates file systems in high-speed and low-speed volumes and a file-sharing server virtually integrates those file systems into one system as a pseudo file system. Then, the server moves a file to be moved to the file system created in the low-speed volume in advance, not when an access is made to the file. When a user accesses to the file after that, the user directly accesses to destination without requiring copying the file, so that the accessing performance may be prevented from dropping.

Claims

1. A file system comprising:

a storage system providing a plurality of volumes using a plurality of drives; and

a file server comprising a memory and managing a real file system and a hierarchy management file system;

wherein

the real file system includes at least a first file system in first one of the plurality of volumes and a second file system in second one of the plurality of volumes,

the hierarchy management file system provides a pseudo file system which virtually and hierarchically integrates the first file system and the second file system,

the storage system stores management information indicating, for each of the files managed in the pseudo file system, either the first file system or the second file system in which each of the files is stored and an identifier of the management information of each corresponding file, wherein at least a part of the management information is also stored in the memory;

wherein the file server is configured to;

specify a file which is stored in the first file system and which satisfies a predetermined migration condition,

copy the file to the second file system, while maintaining a file name of the file copied in the second file system, which is a complete path name used in the file system, with rewriting of the management information of the file so that the management information indicates that the file is in the second file system, and

delete the file in the first file system; and

in response to a read request of the file,

access the second file system by making reference to the management information in the memory, read the file stored in the second file system, and transfer the read file as a response to the read request without first copying the read first file into the first file system.

2. The file system according to claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to invalidate the management information of the file in the memory after the copy of the file.

3. The file system according to claim 1, wherein the file server is configured to access the second file system by making reference to the management information of the file in the storage system if the management information of the file is not stored in the memory.

4. The file system according to claim 3, wherein the file server is configured to copy the file management information of the file from the storage system to the memory.

5. The file system according to claim 1, wherein the management information for each of the files is managed in the memory by being associated with either the first file system or the second file system in which each of the files corresponding to each of the management information is currently stored, and a number of the files of which the management information can be stored in the memory associated with each of the file systems is predetermined.

6. The file system according to claim 5, wherein the number of the files of which the management information can be stored in the memory for the first file system is larger than for the second file system.

7. The file system according to claim 1, wherein:

the first one of the plurality of volumes is provided with first type drives with higher performance than second type drives that provide the second one of the plurality of volumes, and

the first file system has a higher hierarchy level than the second file system, in the pseudo file system.

8. The file system according to claim 1, wherein the maintained file name is the path name under a mount path of the first file system.

9. The file system according to claim 1, wherein the maintained file name is also used by a client in accessing the pseudo file system.

10. The file system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined migration condition is based on access frequency of a file.

11. A file management method performed by a file system including a storage system configured to have a plurality of volumes using a plurality of drives and a file server provided with a memory, the method comprising:

managing a file server a real file system and a hierarchy management file system;

providing as the real file system at least a first file system in first one of the plurality of volumes and a second file system in second one of the plurality of volumes;

providing as the hierarchy management file system a pseudo file system which virtually and hierarchically integrates the first file system and the second file system;

storing in the storage system management information indicating, for each of the files managed in the pseudo file system, either the first file system or the second file system in which each of the files is stored, and an identifier of the management information of each corresponding file, wherein at least a part of the management information is also stored in the memory;

configuring the file server to;

specify a file which is stored in the first file system and which satisfies a predetermined migration condition;

copy the file to the second file system, while maintaining a file name of the file in the second file system, which is a complete path name used in the first file system, with rewriting of the management information of the file so that the management information indicates that the file is in the second file system;

delete the file in the first file system; and

in response to a read request of the file,

access the second file system by making reference to the management information in the memory, and read the file stored in the second file system and transfer the read file as a response to the read request without first copying the read first file into the first file system.

12. The file management method according to claim 11, wherein configuring the file server further includes to invalidate the management information of the file in the memory after the copy of the file.

13. The file management method according to claim 11, wherein configuring the file server includes to access the second file system by making reference to the management information of the file in the storage system if the management information of the file is not stored in the memory.

14. The file management method according to claim 13, wherein configuring the file server includes to copy the file management information of the file from the storage system to the memory.

15. The file management method according to claim 11, wherein the management information for each of the files is managed in the memory by being associated with either the first file system or the second file system in which each of the files corresponding to each of the management information is currently stored, and a number of the files of which the management information can be stored in the memory associated with each of the file systems is predetermined.

16. The file management method according to claim 15, wherein the number of the files of which the management information can be stored in the memory for the first file system is larger than for the second file system.

17. The file management method according to claim 11, wherein:

the first one of the plurality of volumes is provided with first type drives with higher performance than second type drives that provide the second one of the plurality of volumes, and

the first file system has a higher hierarchy level than the second file system, in the pseudo file system.

18. The file management method according to claim 11, wherein the maintained file name is the path name under a mount path of the first file system.

19. The file management method according to claim 11, wherein the maintained file name is also used by a client in accessing the pseudo file system.

20. The file management method according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined migration condition is based on access frequency of a file.