Server file management

• US 20040210591A1
• Filed: 05/13/2004
• Published: 10/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Surgient, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hirschfeld, Robert A., McCrory, Dave D., Pollan, C. Evan
• Granted Patent: US 7,257,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems

Abstract

A virtual hard drive (VHD) file manager system for a virtualized logical server cloud including a master repository and a VHD file manager. The VHD interfaces virtualization software and a server cloud manager to manage VHDs for logical servers of the server cloud. The master repository stores multiple master component files associated with the stored VHDs. The master component files include at least one core file and at least one delta file. The VHD file manager enables copying of the master component files to deploy VHDs in the server cloud, manages creation and storing of new delta files and corresponding VHDs in the master repository, and generates and maintains meta information to maintain file relationship integrity.

Claims

1. A virtual hard drive (VHD) file manager for a virtualized logical server cloud that interfaces virtualization software to manage VHDs for logical servers of the server cloud, comprising:

a repository agent that generates and manages master meta information for maintaining identity and integrity of and relationship between a plurality of master component files stored in a master repository, and that tracks identity of stored VHDs and links said stored VHDs with said master component files; and

a deployment agent that facilitates deployment of each logical server in the server cloud by cooperating with said repository agent to copy master component files from said master repository, that generates and manages deployment meta information of VHDs deployed in the server cloud, and that cooperates with said repository agent to manage storage of VHDs and corresponding component files into said master repository.

2. The VHD file manager of claim 1, wherein said master meta information comprises a master component list and a stored VHD list.

3. The VHD file manager of claim 2, wherein said master component list comprises a core file list and a delta file list.

4. The VHD file manager of claim 3, wherein said core file list comprises signature and location information for each core file stored in said master repository.

5. The VHD file manager of claim 4, wherein said delta file list comprises signature and location information for each delta file stored in said master repository.

6. The VHD file manager of claim 5, wherein said delta file list further comprises parent link and parent signature information associated with each said delta file stored in said master repository.

7. The VHD file manager of claim 6, wherein said stored VHD list comprises stored VHD identification, leaf file location and leaf file signature information.

8. The VHD file manager of claim 1, wherein said deployment meta information comprises deployed VHD identification and set of files (SOF) information for each deployed VHD.

9. The VHD file manager of claim 8, wherein said SOF information comprises signature and location information for each component file of a corresponding deployed VHD.

10. The VHD file manager of claim 9, wherein said SOF information further comprises parent link and parent signature information.

11. The VHD file manager of claim 10, wherein said SOF information further comprises master link and master signature information for corresponding master component files stored in said master repository.

12. The VHD file manager of claim 1, wherein said deployment agent manages re-deployment of a stored VHD in the server cloud including generation of a new leaf file linked to a prior leaf file of said re-deployed stored VHD.

13. The VHD file manager of claim 1, wherein said deployment agent enables simultaneous deployment and use of a plurality of copies of a common VHD by managing creation of unique leaf files for each of said plurality of copies of said common VHD.

14. The VHD file manager of claim 1, wherein said repository and deployment agents collectively enable selection from among said stored VHDs.

15. A virtual hard drive (VHD) file manager system for a virtualized logical server cloud that interfaces virtualization software and a server cloud manager to manage VHDs for logical servers of the server cloud, comprising:

a master repository that stores a plurality of master component files associated with at least one stored VHD, said plurality of master component files including at least one core file and at least one delta file; and

a VHD file manager that enables copying of said master component files to deploy VHDs in the server cloud, that manages creation and storing of new delta files and corresponding VHDs in said master repository, and that generates and maintains meta information to maintain file relationship integrity between deployed and master component files.

16. The VHD file manager system of claim 15, wherein said VHD file manager comprises a repository agent that generates and manages master meta information for maintaining integrity of said plurality of master component files stored in said master repository, and that tracks identity of stored VHDs and links said stored VHDs with said plurality of master component files.

17. The VHD file manager system of claim 16, wherein said master meta information comprises a core file list and a delta file list each including a list of signatures and location information for each master core file and master delta file, respectively.

18. The VHD file manager system of claim 17, wherein said delta file list further comprises parent links and parent signature information for each master delta file.

19. The VHD file manager system of claim 16, wherein said master meta information further comprises a stored VHD list including a VHD identification list, a corresponding leaf file location list, and a corresponding leaf signature list.

20. The VHD file manager system of claim 16, wherein said VHD file manager further comprises a deployment agent that facilitates deployment of VHDs in the server cloud by cooperating with said repository agent to copy master component files from said master repository, that generates and manages deployment meta information of VHDs deployed in the server cloud, and that cooperates with said repository agent to manage storage of VHDs and corresponding component files into said master repository.

21. The VHD file manager system of claim 20, wherein said deployment meta information comprises a deployed VHD list including a list of VHD identities and corresponding component file information.

22. The VHD file manager system of claim 21, wherein said corresponding component file information comprises a component signature list and a component location list.

23. The VHD file manager system of claim 22, wherein said corresponding component file information further comprises a parent link list and a parent signature list.

24. The VHD file manager system of claim 23, wherein said corresponding component file information further comprises a master link list and a master signature list.

25. The VHD file manager system of claim 15, wherein said VHD file manager manages generation of a new leaf file linked to a copy of an existing VHD to form a new and related VHD.

26. The VHD file manager system of claim 15, wherein said VHD file manager enables simultaneous deployment and use of a plurality of copies of a stored VHD by managing creation of unique leaf files for each of said plurality of copies of said stored VHD.

27. The VHD file manager system of claim 15, wherein said VHD file manager enables an entity associated with the server cloud to select from among said plurality of stored VHDs.

28. The VHD file manager system of claim 15, wherein said master repository is distributed among host servers of a server cloud.

29. A method of managing virtual hard drives (VHDs) of logical servers of a virtualized logical server cloud, comprising:

storing each component file of at least one VHD created in the server cloud including its last leaf file; and

generating and managing master meta information to identify each stored VHD and its corresponding component files and their relationships.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising copying component files of a stored VHD to enable deployment of the stored VHD in the server cloud.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising deploying a new VHD by creating a new leaf file linked to a last leaf file of the copied VHD to store differencing information associated with use of the copied VHD.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

storing the new VHD including storing the new leaf file; and

updating the master meta information to identify the new VHD with the new leaf file and to link the new leaf file to the last leaf file.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein said generating and managing master meta information includes, for each differencing file, storing a signature, a location, a parent link, and a parent signature.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein said copying component files of a stored VHD includes, for each differencing file, locating a parent file and comparing the signature of the parent file with a parent signature stored with the differencing file.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising determining whether the last leaf file of a stored VHD copied into the server cloud is a parent file of another differencing file.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein said storing the new VHD and updating the meta information includes adding an entry to a stored VHD list including a new VHD identification, a location of the stored new leaf file, and a copy of a signature of the new leaf file.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein said storing the new VHD and updating the master meta information includes comparing a signature of each deployed component file of the new VHD with a signature of a corresponding stored component file.

38. The method of claim 29, further comprising generating and managing deployed meta information to identify each deployed VHD and its corresponding component files.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein said generating and managing deployed meta information includes generating a VHD identifier and a corresponding set of files record.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said generating a corresponding set of files record includes generating a component file signature, a component file location, a parent link and a parent signature.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein said generating a corresponding set of files record further comprises generating a master link and a corresponding master signature.

42. The method of claim 30, wherein said copying component files of a stored VHD comprises copying a plurality of each component file to generate multiple copies of the stored VHD in the server cloud and creating a new leaf file for each VHD copy.