Patent · US Expired

File server system using file system storage, data movers, and an exchange of meta data among data movers for file locking and direct access to shared file systems

US6324581A · kind A · utility

1,316Cited by
27References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 3, 1999
Grant dateNov 27, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 3, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L69/329
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A plurality of data mover computers control access to respective file systems in data storage. A network client serviced by any of the data movers can access each of the file systems. If a data mover receives a client request for access to a file in a file system to which access is controlled by another data mover, then the data mover that received the client request sends a metadata request to the data mover that controls access to the file system. The data mover that controls access to the file system responds by placing a lock on the file and returning metadata of the file. The data mover that received the client request uses the metadata to formulate a data access command that is used to access the file data in the file system over a bypass data path that bypasses the data mover computer that controls access to the file system.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.