Patent · US Active

Apparatus and method for sharing a virtual file system between logical partitions

US7840764B2 · kind B2 · utility

2Cited by
2References
9Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 5, 2008
Grant dateNov 23, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 10, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S707/99939
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A logically-partitioned computer system provides support for multiple logical partitions to access a single file system, thereby allowing the logical partitions to share a file without the overhead of communicating over a VLAN. An area of shared memory is defined that multiple logical partitions may access. One or more file control blocks that control access to the files in the file system are then created in the shared memory. Existing mechanisms for locking a file system between processes may then be used across logical partitions to serialize access to the file system by all processes in all logical partitions that share the file system. In this manner the sharing of files in a file system is enabled by leveraging existing technology that is used within a single logical partition to extend across multiple logical partitions.

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