Enhanced Inodes for Fast Hierarchical Path Lookup
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hierarchical file systems face inefficiencies in storing and retrieving inodes, leading to slow and resource-intensive operations due to the limited information stored in conventional inodes and their distribution across multiple storage locations, which complicates path lookups and size constraint management.
Innovation Solution
Enhanced inodes are stored in cache memory with additional information such as ancestry and size constraint data, allowing for faster access and management of inode chains, and employing strategies like eviction and pre-fetch to maintain relevant inodes in memory, along with separate data structures for size constraint information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If inodes are stored distributed across multiple storage locations in conventional file systems, then the file system can support a large number of objects, but path lookup and inode location become inefficient and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-computes and stores ancestry information (path from root to inode) and reverse ancestry information (path from inode to root) in the inode data structure itself. This preliminary action eliminates the need for time-consuming path traversal operations during file access, as the path information is already available in the inode.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an enhanced inode data structure that acts as an intermediary, containing embedded path information (ancestry and reverse ancestry) that mediates between the distributed inode storage and the path lookup operation, eliminating the need for separate path traversal through the file system hierarchy.
2Device complexity
If conventional inodes store only basic object metadata, then the inode structure remains simple, but the information available is inadequate to identify and locate additional inodes in the file system
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges path information (ancestry and reverse ancestry) directly into the inode data structure, combining the inode's basic metadata with hierarchical location information. This merging allows the inode to contain sufficient information to identify and locate itself and related inodes without requiring additional data structures or operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The enhanced inode structure serves multiple functions: it stores basic object metadata, contains ancestry information for path lookup, and provides reverse ancestry information for locating parent directories and related inodes. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate data structures for different inode-related operations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If inodes are changed frequently due to size-altering operations, then the file system can adapt to changing data, but reads are executed on storage medium which is inefficient and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates copies of path information (ancestry and reverse ancestry) within the inode data structure itself. When inodes are updated during size-altering operations, only the specific path information that changes needs to be updated rather than performing full path traversals, significantly reducing the overhead of frequent inode modifications.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and methods are provided herein for path lookup in a hierarchical file system. An inode associated with a requested object is identified. The inode may be organized in an inode table and identified in the table using an inode number. Ancestry information and size constraint information may also be available for the inode. An inode chain associated with the pathway is identified based, at least in part, on ancestry information associated with the inode for the requested object. A size constraint analysis is performed for the requested object. The size altering operation is selectively performed based on the size constraint analysis.