International Business Machines Corporation

Edward Joseph Bendert

Robert Bradley Bennett

Eugene Johnson

Robert Michael Nugent

Steven S Shultz

James M Showalter

Susan Marie Farrell

Melissa K Howland

Mary E Vendryes

Robert Micheal Nugent

Eve Suzanne Berman

Generally, piping applications defined by combining stages of programming with a sequence control program and specifying to the sequence control program piping commands. The stages may be functions to send data to a shared queue. The piping commands identify current stages, and parameters for the current stages identify the queue and a key for the data to be sent to the queue. The piping commands do not identify preceding and/or subsequent piping applications.

System, method and program product for control of sequencing of data processing by different programs

Selected server operations that affect objects in a distributed computing system can be off-loaded from servers at which the objects are stored to other servers without the requirement of vertical partitioning of the affected objects and without off-loading entire affected objects. A client environment process that requests an operation on an object is notified of a task server to which selected off-load operations should be sent. The client preferably stores the task server identifier and thereafter sends such operation request directly to the identified task server. The object metadata information can be stored in the client environment, if desired. The object metadata at the owning repository server is maintained, if affected by the requested operation. A single task server can perform off-loaded functions from several other repository servers at the same node and at other nodes, and in that way reduce the workload of many servers. The functions that can be off-loaded include named pipe functions and byte range file lock operations.

Operation-partitioned off-loading of operations in a distributed environment

A system and method efficiently manage clones of an object group. A base storage area contains metadata for each of multiple objects in the object group. The metadata for each object identifies data within each object. The system receives a request to clone a base storage area, and in response, the system creates a clone storage area containing an identification of the base storage area but not the metadata. If there is a subsequent request to update a portion of one of the objects, then the system copies the portion, copies the metadata into the clone storage area for the one object, makes the update to the object copy and changes the metadata in the base storage area to identify the portion copy instead of the original portion. If there is no subsequent request to update any of the multiplicity of objects, then the system does not copy the metadata for any of the multiplicity of objects into the clone storage area.

Creation of clone storage area with identification of base storage area

A computer system manages first and second different file systems. The system comprises first and second, different file managers having first and second different APIs for the first and second file systems, respectively. The system also comprises a hybrid file manager for managing the second file system based on requests made using the first API. The hybrid manager applies rules from both APIs to control atomicity of requests, access concurrency, and data consistency rules. The hybrid rules prevent violation of the rules of either API.

Heterogeneous filing system with common API and reconciled file

A computer system manages storage of files and/or directories. The computer system stores a specification of a file space allocation for an application support processor, an application program, or a group of application programs. The computer system can store temporary files for the application support processor, application program or group of application programs that require greater file space than the file space allocation. This is done by temporarily providing extra unused file space during processing of the temporary files. When the application support processor, application program or group of application programs attempts to commit the files, the file space allocation is enforced. The computer system can store specifications of file space allocations for a plurality of other application support processors, application programs or groups of application programs. The computer system supports a situation where the temporary files for the first application support processor, application program or a group of application programs requires so much file space beyond the allocation for the first application support processor, application program or group of application programs that all of the allocations cannot be satisfied at the time these temporary files are stored.

File management system for a computer

A Data Access System for a File Access Processor for servicing requests from a set of Application Support Processors, which can exist in a global network, with each Application Support Processor sharing access to data in files stored by the File Access Processor. The File Access Processor manages access to a set of data files and information about files held in file directories, which allow for managing file collections, can relate to each other hierarchically, and may be shared. Each Application Support Processor also maintains therein an internal cache of file information to improve performance by reducing communications required with the File Access Processor for information about files. The File Access Processor provides the Application Support Processors with information for updating and maintenance of local caches of directory and file description information through a centralized accumulation and distribution of cache change notifications. The Data Access System also provides for permanent storage in the form of catalogs for retaining shared information about files, directories, and control information. A separate access method and storage facility is utilized for these catalogs from that utilized for file data, permitting flexibility in access to catalog information which require access only occasionally, while retaining high performance in the access to file data.

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Edward Joseph Bendert