Emc IP Holding Company LLC

Emc Corporation

James P Ferrigno

Jean-Pierre Bono

Walter Forrester

Alexander S Mathews

Michal Marko

Yunfei Chen

A technique for storing support files in a data storage apparatus provides auxiliary files in a container file system. The container file system stores a container file that provides a file-based realization of a data object, such as an entire file system, LUN, or vVOL, for example, and stores one or more auxiliary files in the container file system alongside the container file. Thus, an auxiliary file that supports an application program's operations on a data object resides in the same fault domain with the container file that realizes the data object.

Auxiliary files in a container file system

A technique manages filesystem blocks of a filesystem. The technique involves modifying an inode structure which identifies a filesystem directory, the directory's inode structure currently including a set of filesystem blocks which was allocated to the directory's inode structure to hold filesystem data. The technique further involves, after modifying the directory's inode structure, performing a directory check operation to determine whether the filesystem directory is empty. The technique further involves reclaiming, from the directory's inode structure, the set of filesystem blocks which was allocated to the directory's inode structure to hold the filesystem data when a result of the directory check operation indicates that the filesystem directory is empty, and not reclaiming the set of filesystem blocks from the directory's inode structure when the result of the directory check operation indicates that the filesystem directory is not empty.

Reclaiming blocks from a directory

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James P Ferrigno