Granular unmapping with variable addressing in a data store

US10296454B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• VMware LLC · US

Inventors

• Prasad Rao Jangam · Palo Alto, US
• Asit Desai · Cupertino, US
• Prasanna Aithal · Kanchinakote, IN
• Bryan Branstetter · Berkeley, US
• Mahesh Hiregoudar · Kanchinakote, IN
• Srinivasa Shantharam · Kanchinakote, IN
• Pradeep H. Krishnamurthy · Bengaluru, IN
• Raghavan Pichai · Bengaluru, IN
• Rohan Pasalkar · Palo Alto, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 9, 2017
• Grant date: May 21, 2019
• Expiry date: Nov 30, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F2009/45583
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

The systems described herein are configured to enhance the efficiency of memory in a host file system with respect to hosted virtual file systems. In situations when the hosted virtual file systems use smaller file block sizes than the file block sizes of the host file system. During storage of a file, a file block is assigned a block address and unmapping bits. The block address and unmapping bits are stored in a pointer block or other similar data structure associated with the file. Particularly, the block address is stored in a first address block and the unmapping bits are stored in at least one additional address block located in proximity to the block address, such that the unmap granularity of the file is not limited by the fixed size of address blocks in the system.