RELATIONAL OBJECTS FOR THE OPTIMIZED MANAGEMENT OF FIXED-CONTENT STORAGE SYSTEMS

• US 20110125814A1
• Filed: 01/26/2011
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Bycast Inc. (NetApp, Inc.)
• Inventors: Seiler, Oliver, Slik, David, Montour, Mike
• Granted Patent: US 8,171,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/822
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/164 File meta data generation

Abstract

A system and method is described for managing data objects in a fixed-content storage system. Metadata is provided for each variable size packet and may include offset information, packet size data, reference content blocks, and the like. Using this information, intelligently decomposed objects, consolidated objects, differenced objects, and composite objects may be stored in the storage system. The data structure provided by these objects allows for the reduction of necessary storage resources and the total number of stored objects.

Claims

1. A method of storing multiple immutable objects on a computer readable medium, comprising:

receiving a first immutable data object;

receiving a second immutable data object;

generating metadata for the first and second data objects;

allocating an identifier for the first and second data objects;

storing in a fixed content storage system the first and second objects and associated metadata as a consolidated object; and

configuring the metadata of the consolidated object to indicate the relative location of the first and second data objects within the consolidated object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing the first and second objects as a consolidated object comprises storing the first and second data objects in logically adjacent locations on the computer readable medium.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of configuring the metadata to indicate the relative location of the first and second data objects comprises storing an offset and a size for each of the first and second data objects.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at least one additional immutable data object;

generating additional metadata for the at least one additional data object;

storing in a fixed content storage system the at least one additional data object with the first and second data objects as the consolidated object; and

configuring the metadata and the additional metadata to indicate the relative location of the at least one additional data object.

5. A method of storing an edited data object in a computer readable storage, the method comprising:

receiving an original stored data object;

receiving an edited data object, the edited data object comprising a first part that is identical to the original stored data object and a second part that corresponds to an edit of the original stored data object;

storing the second part as a differenced object where only the second part is stored in the object; and

storing metadata with the differenced object, the metadata configured to reference the original stored object for that portion of the original stored object corresponding to the first part, and the metadata further configured to reference the second part.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the original object is a differenced object.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing the first part and the second part together as a flattened object.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising deleting the original stored object.

9. A method of storing a composite object in a computer readable storage, the method comprising:

receiving a first data object;

allocating a single identifier for the first data object,

storing in a fixed content storage system the first object and associated metadata using the first data object identifier; and

receiving a second data object; and

allocating a single identifier for the second data object,

storing in a fixed content storage system the second object and associated metadata using the second data object identifier; and

storing in a fixed content storage system a manifest data object comprising metadata that includes a reference to the first data object and a reference to the second data object.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first data object comprises a type of data object selected from the group of an intelligently decomposed data object, a consolidated data object, a differenced data object, and a second composite object.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving at least one additional data object; and

allocating a single identifiers for at least one additional data object,

storing in a fixed content storage system at least one additional object and associated metadata using the corresponding additional data object identifier; and

storing a difference object containing at least one additional portion of the manifest data object comprising a reference to the at least one additional data object.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing metadata with the manifest data object, the metadata comprising a first set of rules for managing the first and second data objects.

13. A method for handling data objects in a fixed-content storage system, each data object containing a metadata portion, the fixed-content storage system configured such that data objects stored therein are immutable, the method comprising the steps of:

storing a first data object in a computer-readable storage of the fixed-content storage system, wherein at least part of the metadata portion of the first data object comprises a reference block;

receiving a request from an external computing device to access the first data object;

providing a content portion of the first data object to the external computing device;

resolving the reference block to a second data object; and

providing a content portion of the second data object to the external computing device.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the size of the content portion is zero.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the reference block comprises a fixed reference to the second data object.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the reference block comprises a floating reference and the floating reference is resolved based on a characteristic of the external computing device.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the metadata portion of the first data object identifies an ordered relationship between content portion of the first data object and the content portion of the second data object.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the metadata portion of the first data object is configured to override at least one rule indicated by the metadata portion of the second data object.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the referenced second data object contains one or more references to additional data objects, such references resolved recursively.