Methods and systems for data storage

• US 9,830,329 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2014
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mason W. Anthony
• Inventors: Mason, W. Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, III, Albert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoffler, Raheem
• Application Number:
  US14/156,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20150199373A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1744 using compression, e.g. sparse files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24556 Aggregation; Duplicate elimination
• 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

Disclosed are systems and methods for requesting operations at a remote server utilizing a network file system. A client may encapsulate a request for a cache coherency mechanism as an encapsulated message and provide the encapsulated message to a network file system executing on the client. The network file system may be configured to prevent the request for server functionality from being transmitted to the remote server. The client may also cause, via the network file system, the encapsulated message to be transmitted to the remote server.

Claims

1. A system for requesting operations at a remote server utilizing a network file system, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a data store operatively associated with the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to;

execute the network file system, wherein the network file system is in communication with the remote server, and wherein the network file system is programmed to prevent requests for cache coherency mechanisms that originate outside the network file system from reaching the remote server;

receive, from a component outside the network file system, a request for a cache coherency mechanism that permits local caching of a first data block at the data store, wherein the cache coherency mechanism is breakable by the remote server;

encapsulate the request for the cache coherency mechanism to form an encapsulated message;

provide the encapsulated message to the network file system;

cause, by the network file system, the encapsulated message to be transmitted to the remote server; and

receive, from the remote server, a response from the remote server indicating granting of the requested cache coherency mechanism by the remote server.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the response from the remote server is received by the network file system as a second encapsulated message, and wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to decode the second encapsulated message to generate the response from the remote server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

receive from the network file system a second encapsulated message originating from the server;

decode the second encapsulated message to generate a cache coherency break request related to a second cache coherency mechanism previously granted;

encapsulate a response to the cache coherency break request in a third encapsulated message;

provide the third encapsulated message to the network file system; and

cause, by the network file system, the third encapsulated message to be transmitted to the remote server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

encapsulate a request for a data compaction function on a data storage at the server as a second encapsulated message;

provide the second encapsulated message to a network file system executing on the at least one processor; and

cause, by the network file system, the second encapsulated message to be transmitted to the remote server.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the data compaction function is a cleaning function for compacting data stored on the data storage of the server according to a log structured file system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

encapsulate a request for an indicator of a file as a second encapsulated message;

provide the second encapsulated message to a network file system executing on the at least one processor; and

cause, by the network file system, the second encapsulated message to be transmitted to the remote server.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the indicator of the file is selected from the group consisting of a file identifier (ID) and a file name.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

encapsulate an access request to access at least one data block stored at a data storage distinct from the remote server as a second encapsulated message;

provide the second encapsulated message to a network file system executing on the at least one processor;

cause, by the network file system, the second encapsulated message to be transmitted to the remote server; and

receive, from the remote server, a response comprising access parameters for the at least one data block.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to direct a data request to the data storage utilizing the access parameters for the at least one data block.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is also programmed to:

execute an application; and

execute a data transformation module, wherein the data transformation module is logically positioned between the application and the network file system, and wherein the data transformation module is programmed to;

receive a write request from the application, wherein the write request comprises a data block and a logical position of the data block, wherein the cache coherency mechanism includes write permission for the data block;

cache the data block at the data store;

perform a transformation on the data block to generate a transformed data block; and

generate a second write request directed to the network file system, wherein the second write request comprises the transformed data block.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein performing the transformation comprises:

organizing the data block into a sub-file; and

organizing the sub-file into a first file according to a log-structured file system implemented server, and wherein the second write request further comprises an indication of a logical position of the first file on the server.