Dell Products Inc.

Wyse Technology Inc.

Rushikesh Patil

Puneet Kaushik

Satya Mylvara

Manmeet S Bindra

Sergii Liashenko

Concurrent access to a user profile in a layering system is provided. When a user logs into a computing device, the server can locate a corresponding user profile to identify which layers should be provided to the user. Rather than sending these layers to the computing device for mounting, the server can mount the layers on the server. Therefore, if a user logs into multiple computing devices, the layering file system and registry filter drivers on those devices can route file system and registry requests to the server where the layers are mounted. Since the layers are mounted to a single device, concurrent access can be provided without the concern of data conflicts.

Concurrent access to a user profile in a layering system

Files and folders on a read-only shared layer may be protected by using a read-write layer. File system level hooks are added to capture and simulate the rename and delete operation that would otherwise corrupt or destroy files and folders on a read-only layer. Each read-write layer has an associated file system metadata cache that gives an overview of the data contained by the layer. Relevant metadata is added for the metadata entry associated with a file or folder subjected to a rename or delete operation so as to track the file system operations associated with the file or folder. One or more metadata flags may be used to assist in tracking the file system operations.

Protecting files and folders on a shared application layer

Layer metadata within a layering system can be self-healed. When a layer is mounted, a scanning module can scan the file system structure of the layer to identify what content is stored on the layer as well as attributes of this content. Based on this scan, the scanning module can determine if the layer metadata is consistent with the actual contents of the layer and report any discrepancies to a healing module. The healing module can then repair the layer metadata so that it accurately reflects the contents of the layer.

Self-healing of layer metadata within a layering system

A directory that resides on a layered volume can be renamed. A hooking module can be employed to intercept rename requests. The hooking module can query a layering file system filter driver to determine the volume of the source and target of the rename request. If the source and target are on different volumes, thereby indicating that the source is a directory of a layered volume, the hooking module can append a signature to the target which identifies the actual volume of the source. The modified rename request can then be passed to the operating system which will perform its normal operations including verifying that the source and target are on the same volume. During this verification, the layering file system filter driver can detect the appended signature in the target and can inform the operating system that the target is on the volume identified in the signature.

Renaming a directory that resides on a layered volume

Application configurations can be merged to enhance multi-layer performance. When a layering system is employed, a layering registry filter driver can create a merged registry hive that includes the contents of each operating system registry hive as well as the contents of each registry hive of a mounted layer. The merged registry hive will therefore form a single location that the layering registry filter driver can access to complete a registry operation.

Merging application configurations to enhance multi-layer performance

A security solution can be implemented using a layering system. By using a layering system, any changes that are made to a computing system can be isolated within a separate write layer. Due to this isolation, the changes, which may even be malicious, can be evaluated without fear that the resources in other layers will be negatively affected. In this way, even security threats that are still unknown to antivirus solutions (so-called zero-day attacks) can be prevented from harming the system.

Implementing a security solution using a layering system

A method and system for handling a file operation directed to an original file of a protected layer. A protected layer and a user- or device-specific write layer associated with the protected layer are both mounted. File open operations directed to an original file on the protected layer are instead redirected to one of a dummy file associated with the original file or a write-layer copy of the original file located on the write layer. If neither a dummy file nor a write-layer copy of the original file are on the write layer, a dummy file having the same file name and file attributes as the original file is created in the write layer. Subsequent file operations, such as reading, writing, and closing, are directed to the one of the dummy file or the write-layer copy.

System and method for protecting contents of shared layer resources

A file-system filter driver is attached to each cache volume containing a cache and a source volume containing a source file. The file-system filter driver intercepts requests and may redirect the requests to the cache. The redirection may be based on metadata information corresponding to the file or folder associated with a given request. Redirection to the cache prevents an application or user from directly accessing or modifying the source volume, which may be shared among multiple client devices. Redirecting requests to the cache also permits user-specific modifications to be stored in the cache. A merged view of the source volume and the cache may then be presented to the user or an application, reflecting the user-specific modifications without affecting the source volume.

File-based client side cache

A user profile layer provides a benefit to a user by allowing access to user profile setting and data across multiple information handling systems running one or more operating systems. Operating system specific data may be stored in a user profile operating system layer while user data may be stored in a user profile data layer. Each time a user logs in to an information handling system, a layering driver captures changes to user data and to user settings corresponding to the operating system. A new user profile operating system layer is created for each type of operating system associated with a user while only one user profile data layer is maintained for the same user. In this way, any changes made to the same operating system data or user data are captured by the user's specific user profile and usable each time the user logs in to any information handling system.

Making user profile data portable across platforms

User changes may be preserved across updates to a layer. When a layering client mounts a layer, a corresponding layering write cache is mounted. Changes to layered resources, such as files, registry entries, and registry values, are made only to the layering write cache. A request to create a file in the layer is directed to the layering write cache such that the new file is created in the layering write cache. A request to open a layered resource, is directed to the layered resource if the layered resource is in the layering write cache. A request to write to a layered resource is directed to the layering write cache if the layered resource is in the layering write cache. If the layered resource is not in the layering write cache, the layered resource is copied to the layering write cache before redirecting the write request.

Preserving user changes to a shared layered resource

A method of creating a new layer for an information handling system is disclosed. A layering client mounts a new layer at a layer storage medium accessible to the information handling system. A layering file system filter driver redirects a request to create a new file at a target file path to the layer storage medium and updates the file metadata to associate the target file path with the path to file created on the layer storage medium.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Rushikesh Patil