Hierarchical namespace service with distributed name resolution caching and synchronization

US10735369B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC · US

Inventors

• Georgi M. Chalakov · Duvall, US
• Shane Mainali · Duvall, US
• Thomas Leo Marquardt · Newcastle, US
• Zichen Sun · Sammamish, US
• Maneesh Sah · Sammamish, US
• Esfandiar Manii · Kirkland, US
• Saurabh Pant · Kanchinakote, IN
• Dana Yulian Kaban · Seattle, US
• Saher B. Ahwal · Redmond, US
• Jun Chen · Dongguan, CN
• Da Zhou · Beijing, CN
• Amit Singh · San Jose, US
• Junhua Gu · Bothell, US
• Shaoyu Zhang · Shanghai, CN
• Wei-Chen Chen · Redmond, US
• Jingchao Zhang · Shanghai, CN
• Quan Zhang · Nanhu, CN
• Arild Einar Skjoldsvold · Kenmore, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 22, 2018
• Grant date: Aug 4, 2020
• Expiry date: Aug 18, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04L67/568
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A service enables a command that refers to a file system object using a hierarchical namespace identifier to be executed against the file system object in a flat namespace. The service selectively distributes the command to one of a plurality of name resolution nodes based on a directory name included in the hierarchical namespace identifier. The identified node resolves the directory name to a flat namespace identifier that is used to execute the command against the flat namespace. After communicating with at least one storage node to resolve a directory name, each name resolution node stores a mapping of the directory name to the corresponding flat namespace identifier in a cache, so that subsequent resolutions of that directory name may be performed more efficiently. Cache entries may be invalidated when an operation occurs that impacts the relevant mapping and/or based on system considerations such as cache expiry.