Aggregation and re-ordering of input/output requests for better performance in remote file systems

• US 20080320155A1
• Filed: 06/22/2007
• Published: 12/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fuller, Jeffrey C., George, Mathew, Kruse, David, Ganapathy, Ramanathan, Ootjers, Thomas J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,966,000 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/183 Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS network file access protocols H04L67/1097

Abstract

A method and system for managing remote file system requests between client and server redirectors where a set of data request packets may be aggregated and/or ordered at a server based on hint information from a client.

Claims

1. A method for managing input/output (I/O) requests between a client redirector and a file system server comprising:

receiving a file request from a client application;

creating a set of request packets based on the file request and a packet size limitation;

providing a header on each request packet of the set of request packets that identifies the set of request packets to which each request packet belongs;

determining at a server whether a first received request packet is part of the set of request packets;

aggregating at least a subset of the set of request packets at the server before transmitting a single file data request to a file system on the server based on the subset of the set of request packets; and

receiving file data from the file system at the server and populating a set of return packets corresponding to a received set of request packets for transmission back to the client application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the file request from the client application is a read request and wherein the header on each request packet includes information identifying data to be read for the entire set of request packets.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the single data request is transmitted after receiving at the server any single packet of the set of packets corresponding to the read request.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each request packet of the set of request packets is fulfilled using data retrieved from the single data read request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the set of request packets comprises storing received request packets at the server into a first queue.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the file request from the client application is a read request and the data retrieved from the single data request for the file read request is stored in a first read queue for a period of time and wherein any request packet received during the period of time for a portion of the data retrieved is fulfilled.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising ordering the received requests based on a sequential write order.

8. The method of claim 7, further wherein the single file system request is transmitted after the first queue reaches or exceeds a predetermined threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the threshold is reached once all packets of the set of packets are received.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the threshold is set determined based on one of at least a memory pressure, a low disk bandwidth, or a storage media speed.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein aggregating the set of request packets comprises reordering the set of requests from the first queue into a second queue and sending the set of ordered requests from the second queue to the file system server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the header comprises an indication of a number of request packets in the set of request packets and a last packet.

13. A computer-storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing operations comprising:

receiving a transport packet requesting access to a portion of a single data file wherein the transport packet includes a header identifying a set of transport packets to which the transport packet belongs;

queuing the transport packet at the server;

transmitting a single file data read request to a file system on a server based on header information from the transport packet, if the set of packets to which the transport packet belongs corresponds to a file read request;

transmitting a single file data write request to the file system based on data contained in a threshold number of packets received at the server including the packet, if the set of packets to which the transport packet belongs corresponds to a file write request; and

receiving data in response to the request to the file system and populating return packets corresponding to the set of packets for transmission back to a client.

14. The computer-storage medium of claim 13, wherein the threshold number of packets received comprises the total number of packets in the set of packets.

15. The computer-storage medium of claim 13, wherein the single file data read request to the file system requests all data requested by the set of transport packets.

16. A system for managing input/output (I/O) requests comprising:

a client device running a client redirector that receives a data request from an application, segments the request into a plurality of packets for transmission over a communication network using a communication protocol, and wherein the client redirector provides a chain identifier, a number of packets in the set of packets and a last packet indicator; and

a server running a server redirector that collects the data request as a set of packets and provides a single sequential, ordered request to a file system based on at least a subset of the set of packets received by the server redirector.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the server redirector aggregates the set of packets in a first queue.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the packets are order based on a sequential write order.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the data request is a read request and the subset of the set of packets comprises a single first request.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the server redirector aggregates the set of packets based on memory pressure, low disk bandwidth, and storage media speed.