International Business Machines Corporation

Roger Lee Haskin

Frank Bernhard Schmuck

James Christopher Wyllie

Marc M Eshel

Robert J Curran

Dean Hildebrand

Renu Tewari

Manoj Premanand Naik

Wayne A Sawdon

Rajagopol Ananthanarayanan

Karan Gupta

Prasenjit Sarkar

Zvi Yosef Yehudai

John Michael Marberg

Irit Loy

Boaz Shumeli

Himabindu Pucha

Dinesh Kumar Subhraveti

Rajagopal Ananthanarayanan

Kuei-Yu Wang-Knop

Dean S Daniels

Soumitra Sarkar

Douglas J Griffith

Yi Zhou

Theodore Brian Vojnovich

Shah Mohammad Rezaul Islam

Felipe Knop

Myung Mun Bae

Thomas K Clark

Sudhir Gurunandan Rao

Thomas J Freund

Frank L Stein

Benjamin Mandler

Robert Anthony Storey

Daniel Lloyd McNabb

David William Davenport

James W Eldridge

Henry Dexter Chadwick

Leung Ping Lee

Sibylle Schaller

Leonard DeGollado

Jeffrey Lloyd Weiner

Gregory Allen Poist

Michael Joseph Flynn

A system facilitates access to data in a network and includes a cache that stores instructions. A processor executes the instructions including: caching processing configured to integrate caching into a local cluster file system, and cache local file data in the cache based on fetching file data on demand from a remote cluster file system. The cache is visible to file system clients as a Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) compliant file system. Applications execute on a multi-node cache cluster using POSIX semantics via a POSIX compliant file system interface. Data cache is locally and remotely consistent for updates.

Scalable caching of remote file data in a cluster file system

A method for managing storage allocation includes adaptively determining, by a storage device processor, a region width across disk spaces for a group of storage devices that is inversely proportional to a number of nodes sharing a particular storage device. An adaptive storage device allocation region of the particular storage device is created based on the determined region width across the disk spaces for the group of storage devices.

Generalized storage allocation for multiple architectures

A system facilitates access to data in a network. One implementations includes a caching layer function that is configured to integrate into a local cluster file system, to cache local file data in a cache based on fetching file data on demand from a remote cluster file system, and to operate on a multi-node cache cluster. The cache is visible to file system clients as a Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) compliant file system, applications execute on the multi-node cache cluster using POSIX semantics via a POSIX compliant file system interface, and data cache is locally consistent for updates made at the multi-node cache cluster using distributed locking for the data cache.

Embodiments of the invention relate to storage allocation in a storage system. One embodiment includes adaptively determining, by a storage device processor, a region height across disk spaces of a group of storage devices that is proportional to a number of connected storage devices. The storage device processor adaptively determines a region width across the disk spaces for the group of storage devices that is inversely proportional to a number of nodes sharing a particular storage device.

Scalable caching of remote file data in cluster file systems is provided. One implementation involves maintaining a cache in a local cluster file system and caching local file data in the cache by fetching file data on demand from the remote cluster file system into the local cached file system over the network. The local file data and metadata corresponds to the remote file data and metadata in the remote cluster file system. Updates made to the local file data and metadata are pushed back to the remote cluster file system asynchronously.

Embodiments of the invention relate to storage allocation in a storage system. One embodiment includes generating a request for storage space allocation in a particular storage device by a first node. An owner node associated with the particular storage device is determined by a first allocation client associated with the first node. The request is sent by the first allocation client to a second allocation client associated with the owner node. A storage device allocation region of the particular storage device is created, the allocation region comprising a height proportional to storage devices the owner node and the second allocation client are coupled with, and a width that is inversely proportional to a number of nodes sharing the particular storage device.

Embodiments of the invention relate to data replication and block allocation in a file system to support write transactions. Regions in a cluster file system are defined to support a block allocation. Blocks in the defined regions are allocated to support the data replication. A pipeline manager is provided to schedule population of the blocks in the allocated region(s) based upon network characteristics.

Snapshot based replication

Asynchronous file operations in a scalable multi-node file system cache for a remote cluster file system, is provided. One implementation involves maintaining a scalable multi-node file system cache in a local cluster file system, and caching local file data in the cache by fetching file data on demand from the remote cluster file system into the cache over the network. The local file data corresponds to file data in the remote cluster file system. Local file information is asynchronously committed from the cache to the remote cluster file system over the network.

Asynchronous file operations in a scalable multi-node file system cache for a remote cluster file system

Facilitating access to data in a network, is provided. One implementation involves maintaining a scalable multi-node file system cache in a local cluster file system, and caching file data in a cache by fetching file data on demand from a remote cluster file system into the local cached file system over the network. The local file data corresponds to file data in the remote cluster file system. Upon disconnection from the remote cluster file system, all file operations are supported at the cache. Then, upon reconnection to the remote cluster file system over the network, the remote cluster file system is synchronized with the information cached in the cache during the disconnection even in the presence of failures.

Disconnected file operations in a scalable multi-node file system cache for a remote cluster file system

Directory traversal in a scalable multi-node file system cache for a remote cluster file system, is provided. One implementation involves maintaining a scalable multi-node file system cache in a local cluster file system, and caching local file data in the cache by fetching file data on demand from a remote cluster file system into the cache over the network. The local file data corresponds to file data in the remote cluster file system. The local namespace emulates the remote namespace and is created on demand. Access to data further involves performing directory traversal for the cache for the remote cluster file system by creating a directory structure on demand.

Directory traversal in a scalable multi-node file system cache for a remote cluster file system

A method for data access in a multinode, shared storage data processing environment is provided by enhancing the file locking mechanism structure so as to permit nodes not normally designated as metadata controller nodes to fulfill that function for limited times thus at least temporarily eliminating the need for continual node-to-node coordination. This is particularly advantageous in the access and transfer of large files such as video files or files containing complex visualization data.

Parallel metadata service in storage area network environment

The acquisition of a lock among nodes of a divided cluster is disclosed. A method is performable by each of at least one node of the cluster. A node waits for a delay corresponding to its identifier. The node asserts intent to acquire the lock by writing its identifier to X and Y variables where another node has failed to acquire the lock. The node waits for another node to acquire the lock where the other node has written to X, and proceeds where Y remains equal to its own identifier. The node waits for another node to acquire the lock where the other node has written to a Z variable, and writes its own identifier to Z and proceeds where the other node has failed. The node writes a value to Y indicating that it is acquiring the lock, and maintains acquisition by periodically writing to Z.

Lock acquisition among nodes of divided cluster

Growing community of inventors

Morgan Hill, CA, United States of America

Roger Lee Haskin