Continuous media file server for cold restriping following capacity change by repositioning data blocks in the multiple data servers
US5991804A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 20, 1997 |
| Grant date | Nov 23, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 20, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/2097
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A continuous media file server has a controller connected to multiple data servers. Each data server supports at least one storage disk. Data files are distributed across the data servers so that data blocks of the data files are stored on each of the storage disks according to a present striping layout. The file server employs declustered mirroring techniques in which data is redundantly copied and stored on other disks and servers to guard against component failure. In the event that the storage capacity of the media file server is changed (i.e., by adding or removing one or more storage disks), the continuous media file server is restriped in a three-phase process. During the first phase, the controller determines a new striping layout of the data files across the storage disks which accounts for the capacity change. The controller then creates an ordered work list describing the data block moves that a corresponding data server needs to make to convert from the present striping layout to the new striping layout. The controller distributes the list to the data servers. The order of the latter two phases depends on whether disks are being added or removed. In one of the two final…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.