Method and apparatus for managing file systems and file-based data storage
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus comprising a set of computer instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by a computer processor to:
- store, in a rulesbase on a server associated with a filesystem on a network, a set of programmable rules associated with a filesystem, wherein the programmable rules comprise administrative policies, access control or security;
receive, from a client of a plurality of clients operating on a network, a filesystem request indicating a requested filesystem operation for an associated storage media device, wherein the request is communicated according to a network filesystem protocol;
determine from the filesystem request a filesystem object on which the requested operation is to be performed;
obtain metadata associated with the filesystem object;
compare the filesystem request to the one or more rules saved in the programmable rulesbase to determine whether the filesystem request matches a pattern of a rule utilizing at least a portion of the metadata associated with the filesystem object, wherein the pattern specifies and expression for evaluation using the metadata associated with the filesystem object; and
if the filesystem request matches the pattern, execute an action associated with the pattern.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention can comprise systems and methods for managing filesystems and can provide a programmable filesystem with active rules and policies, an n-tier network filesystem, stack mounting, a union filesystem with write-through semantics, a filesystem middleware with selective delegation, a filesystem with a statistical warehouse and/or other management functionality.
94 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An apparatus comprising a set of computer instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by a computer processor to:
-
store, in a rulesbase on a server associated with a filesystem on a network, a set of programmable rules associated with a filesystem, wherein the programmable rules comprise administrative policies, access control or security; receive, from a client of a plurality of clients operating on a network, a filesystem request indicating a requested filesystem operation for an associated storage media device, wherein the request is communicated according to a network filesystem protocol; determine from the filesystem request a filesystem object on which the requested operation is to be performed; obtain metadata associated with the filesystem object; compare the filesystem request to the one or more rules saved in the programmable rulesbase to determine whether the filesystem request matches a pattern of a rule utilizing at least a portion of the metadata associated with the filesystem object, wherein the pattern specifies and expression for evaluation using the metadata associated with the filesystem object; and if the filesystem request matches the pattern, execute an action associated with the pattern. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An apparatus comprising a set of computer executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the set of computer instructions comprising:
-
a filesystem manager operable to; maintain a filesystem for an underlying storage medium; receive a filesystem request from a filesystem client that includes a requested filesystem operation; determine from the filesystem request a filesystem object on which the requested operation is to be performed; obtain metadata associated with the filesystem object; pass the filesystem request to a rules engine; and determine whether to proceed with the requested filesystem operation; a programmable rules base comprising a set of rules, wherein the programmable rules comprise administrative policies, access control or security, wherein each rule further comprises a pattern and an associated action; and a rules engine operable to; receive the filesystem request; compare the filesystem request to the one more rules in the programmable rules base to determine if the filesystem request matches one or more rules from the set of rules based on the pattern for each rule utilizing at least a portion of the metadata associated with the filesystem object, wherein the pattern specifies and expression for evaluation using the metadata associated with the filesystem object; if there are one or more matching patterns, execute the action associated with each matching pattern; and return a rules engine response to the filesystem manager. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for applying rules to filesystem operations comprising:
-
store, in a rulesbase on a server associated with a filesystem on a network, a set of programmable rules associated with a filesystem, wherein the programmable rules comprise administrative policies, access control or security; receive at a filesystem server computer a filesystem request from a filesystem client computer indicating a requested filesystem operation; determine from the filesystem request a filesystem object on which the requested operation is to be performed; obtain metadata associated with the filesystem object; compare the filesystem request to the one or more rules saved in the programmable rulesbase to determine whether the filesystem request matches a pattern of a rule utilizing at least a portion of the metadata associated with the filesystem object, wherein the pattern specifies and expression for evaluation using the metadata associated with the filesystem object; and if the filesystem request matches the pattern, execute an action associated with the pattern. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method for applying rules to filesystem operations, comprising:
-
storing, in a rulesbase on a server associated with a filesystem on a network, a set of programmable rules associated with a filesystem, wherein the programmable rules comprise administrative policies, access control or security; receiving at a filesystem server computer a filesystem request from a filesystem client that includes a requested filesystem operation; determining from the filesystem request a filesystem object on which the requested operation is to be performed; obtaining metadata associated with the filesystem object; determining whether to proceed with the requested filesystem operation; comparing the filesystem request to one more rules saved in the programmable rulesbase to determine if the filesystem request matches one or more rules from the set of rules based on a pattern for each rule utilizing at least a portion of the metadata associated with the filesystem object, wherein the pattern specifies and expression for evaluation using the metadata associated with the filesystem object; if there are one or more matching patterns in the programmable rulesbase, executing an action associated with each matching pattern; and returning a rules engine response. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
-
Specification