DATA INTEGRITY FOR DATA STORAGE DEVICES SHARED BY MULTIPLE HOSTS VIA A NETWORK
First Claim
1. A method for accessing a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network while preserving the data integrity of the data storage device, comprising:
- acquiring a resource lock, the resource lock providing exclusive access to the data storage device to one of the plurality of hosts;
directly accessing the data storage device; and
releasing the resource lock so that another of the plurality of hosts may access the data storage device.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Access by multiple hosts, such as computers, to a data storage device by way of a network while maintaining data integrity. In one embodiment, a method for accessing the storage device includes acquiring a resource “lock” that provides exclusive access to one of the hosts at a time. In another embodiment, the file systems of a first and second host provide file system attributes stored in a storage device to provide mutually exclusive access for each host to free blocks of the device. In another embodiment, a networked system contains a first host having exclusive direct access to a storage device over a digital network. A second host requiring access to the storage device communicates with the first host by way of the digital network. File access requests generated by the second host are transferred by a redirection filter driver within the second host to the first host.
175 Citations
52 Claims
-
1. A method for accessing a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network while preserving the data integrity of the data storage device, comprising:
-
acquiring a resource lock, the resource lock providing exclusive access to the data storage device to one of the plurality of hosts; directly accessing the data storage device; and releasing the resource lock so that another of the plurality of hosts may access the data storage device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A digital storage medium storing a software program implementing a method for accessing a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network, the method comprising:
-
acquiring a resource lock, the resource lock providing exclusive access to the data storage device to one of the plurality of hosts; accessing the data storage device; and releasing the resource lock so that another of the plurality of hosts may access the data storage device. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method for claiming a cluster of free blocks of a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network while preserving the data integrity of the data storage device, comprising:
-
reading a check out attribute associated with the cluster of free blocks to determine if the cluster of free blocks has been claimed by one of the plurality of hosts; and if the cluster of free blocks has not been claimed by one of the plurality of hosts, setting the check out attribute with a host identification, thereby claiming the cluster of free blocks. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
-
-
25. A method for accessing a bad block list of a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network while preserving the data integrity of the data storage device, comprising:
-
reading a check out attribute associated with the bad block list to determine if the bad block list is being accessed by one of the plurality of hosts; and if the bad block list is not being accessed by one of the plurality of hosts, setting the check out attribute with a host identification, thereby gaining access to the bad block list. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
-
28. A method for accessing a file system file imparting information regarding a file system of a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network while preserving the data integrity of the data storage device, comprising:
-
reading a check out attribute associated with the file system file to determine if the file system file is being accessed by one of the plurality of hosts; and if the file system file is not being accessed by one of the plurality of hosts, setting the check out attribute with a host identification, thereby gaining access to the file system file. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
-
-
31. A method for traversing the entire file structure of a file system of a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network, comprising:
-
reading a file system descriptor of the file system from the data storage device; following a link within the file system descriptor associated with a root directory file descriptor for each of the plurality of hosts; and traversing a file structure for each of the plurality of hosts, beginning with the root directory file descriptor for each of the plurality of hosts.
-
-
32. A method for accessing a user file of a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts via a network while preserving the data integrity of the data storage device, comprising:
-
reading a check out attribute associated with the user file to determine if the user file is being accessed by one of the plurality of hosts; and if the user file is not being accessed by one of the plurality of hosts, setting the check out attribute with a host identification, thereby gaining access to the user file. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
-
-
35. A file system data structure providing data integrity to a data storage device shared by a plurality of hosts, the file system data structure comprising:
-
a free block list comprising an entry indicating the location of a cluster of free blocks of the data storage device, the free block list residing in at least one block of the data storage device; a check out attribute of the entry of the free block list indicating whether the cluster of free blocks has been claimed by one of the plurality of hosts and, if so, the identity of the one of the plurality of hosts; wherein the cluster of free blocks may thus be allocated by the one of the plurality of hosts. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
-
Specification