Shared file system having a token-ring style protocol for managing meta-data
US6665675B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 7, 2000 |
| Grant date | Dec 16, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 20, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L69/329
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system is disclosed having shared storage nodes and a number of processing nodes coupled to the shared storage nodes. The storage nodes are to store user data and file system meta-data (FSMD) and can be accessed by the processing nodes. Each respective processing node stores a copy of the FSMD, and can update its copy of the FSMD based upon content of a token received from one of the processing nodes. The processing node adds information to the token that describes a change that node makes to the copy of the FSMD, and then sends the token to another one of the processing nodes. Such a scheme may prove to be a more scalable solution for a shared file system as the number of processing nodes are increased, because the overhead associated with managing the meta-data does not significantly diminish the performance of the storage system as a whole.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.