Network Appliance, Inc.

Colin Stebbins Gordon

Pratap Vikram Singh

Donald Alvin Trimmer

An apparatus and method for merging the data of a first container and a second container into a target container that includes at least one block having a plurality of extents to store data objects. The apparatus may include a storage sever coupled to a plurality of storage devices. The storage server is configured to merge multiple data objects of the plurality of containers that store a data object per each container into a target container that stores multiple data objects within the target container.

Merging containers in a multi-container system

An apparatus and method for referencing physical location of data objects stored within a logical container. The method may include receiving an access request from a client for a particular data object stored in a logical container having a plurality of data objects stored collectively in the logical container, and referencing a physical location of the particular data object within the logical container in response to the access request. The logical container includes at least one block, and each block of the logical container includes multiple extents to store data from at least one data object. The block is a fundamental unit of storage space.

An apparatus and method for containerization of multiple data objects within a block of a single container. The apparatus and method may pack multiple data objects together in a block of a logical container in a file system. The method may include receiving data in the form of multiple data objects to be stored in a file system, and collectively data packing the multiple data objects together in at least one block of a logical container in the file system. The block is a fundamental unit of storage space of the file system, and each block of the logical container includes multiple extents to store data from at least one data object of the multiple objects. The apparatus may include a plurality of storage devices coupled to a storage server. The storage server is configured to store the multiple data objects in at least one block of the logical container in the file system. Some data objects may be stored in multiple extents of one or more blocks depending on the size of the data object.

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Ridgefield, CT, United States of America

Colin Stebbins Gordon