Method and apparatus to automatically commit files to worm status

• US 20070174565A1
• Filed: 01/25/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: McGovern, William, Merrick, Jeffrey
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,401 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/161
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/181 providing write once read many [WORM] semantics
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1865 Transactional file systems

Abstract

A system is provided to commit data to persistent storage. The system comprises a configuration component to set an autocommit period, a scanner to detect that the autocommit period has expired for a file and a commit component to commit the file to write once read many (WORM) status In one embodiment, when an autocommit period is set, the system may be configured to automatically commit a file to WORM status if the file has not been changed for the autocommit period.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a configuration component to set an autocommit period;

a scanner to detect that the autocommit period has expired for a file; and

a commit component to commit the file to write once read many (WORM) status.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration component is further to set a retention period.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the commit component is to set a retention for the file based on the retention period.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the retention period is a default retention period.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the scanner comprises:

logic to scan a plurality of files in a volume; and

logic to determine that a file from the plurality of files has remained unmodified for at least the autocommit period.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein metadata associated with the volume identifies the volume as a WORM volume.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the commit component is to commit the file to WORM status by designating the file as read only.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration component is to set a period within which a file is to be committed to WORM after an expiration of the autocommit period.

9. A method comprising:

setting an autocommit period;

detecting that the autocommit period has expired for a file; and

committing the file to write once read many (WORM) status.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising setting a retention period.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein committing the file to WORM status comprises setting a retention for the file based on the retention period.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein committing the file to WORM status comprises designating the file as read only.

13. The method of claim 9, detecting that the autocommit period is expired for the file comprises:

scanning a plurality of files in a volume; and

determining that the file has remained unmodified for at least the autocommit period.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that the file has remained unmodified is based on a predetermined definition of a modifying operation.

15. A storage system to migrate data to persistent storage, the system comprising:

a compliance clock, wherein commands that can be used to modify the compliance clock are disabled;

a scanner to detect that a file has not been modified for an predetermined period of time with respect to a current compliance clock reading; and

a commit component to change the file status to read only and to set a retention for the file.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a configuration component to set the predetermined period of time and a retention period.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the commit component is further to determine the retention for the file based on current compliance clock reading and the retention period.

18. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sets of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

set an autocommit period;

detect that the autocommit period has expired for a file; and

commit the file to write once read many (WORM) status.